A finely wrought coming-of-age drama that crackles with political tension, Gaston Biraben's Captive engages the real world in honest terms to deliver an emotional wallop. Based on a true story, the film occasionally strains credulity with the Nancy Drew-style heroics of Cristina's (Barbara Lombardo) buddy Angelica (Mercedes Funes), but the authentic setting, the intelligent, restrained presentation of the potentially sensational material, and the fiercely naturalistic performances of these two young women allow the audience to suspend disbelief. Lombardo, in particular, shoulders a huge burden, but her well-calibrated performance gives us access to Cristina's emotional turmoil as she learns the shocking truth about her birth family and the seemingly loving, wealthy people who raised her. Without straying from the specific emotional truths of Cristina's story, Biraben creates a broad and compelling study of a people torn apart by fascism, then forced to live peacefully alongside those responsible for those years of terror. The film, which won the Horizons Award at the 2003 San Sebastian Film Festival and was shown at New Directors/New Films in 2004, is an auspicious debut for Biraben. With grace and passion, he reveals the last impact of unpunished brutality on a troubled nation's soul.