AllMovie

An excellent review of Argentine history and politics in the years between 1976 and 1983, this documentary is a follow-up to 1983's La Republica Perdida. Director Miguel Perez uses historical footage and quotes from Argentine leaders that ironically convict them of a bent toward brutality without added commentary. ("...our society is insane, so orders must be followed without question.") Kidnappings, tortures, quick executions, anonymous imprisonment, and the disappearance of 30,000 dissidents are examined through interviews with survivors and relatives of the victims. During these years, the military dissolved the Congress and the Supreme Court. Perez also suggests -- as do many Argentinians -- that the Falklands War was a way to get the people united behind the government for the first time. In brief, this is a thorough and unrelenting documentary on a tragic period in the nation's long history of militaristic regimes.