Kamchatka (film)

Infobox Film
name = Kamchatka


image_size =
caption = Theatrical Poster
director = Marcelo Piñeyro
producer = Pablo Bossi Pedro D'Angelo Oscar Kramer
Francisco Ramos
writer = Marcelo Piñeyro Marcelo Figueras
narrator =
starring = Ricardo Darín Cecilia Roth Tomás Fonzi Héctor Alterio
music = Bingen Mendizábal
cinematography = Alfredo F. Mayo
editing = Juan Carlos Macías
distributor = Buena Vista
Hispano Foxfilms
released = Argentina: September 17, 2002 Canada: September 9, 2003
runtime = 105 minutes
country = Argentina Spain
language = Spanish Swahili
budget =
amg_id = 1:278619
imdb_id = 0320042|

"Kamchatka" (2002) is an Argentine and Spanish drama film directed by Marcelo Piñeyro and written by Piñeyro and Marcelo Figueras. The movie features Ricardo Darín, Cecilia Roth, Tomás Fonzi, Héctor Alterio, among others. [ [http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0320042/ "Kamchatka"] at the Internet Movie Database.]

The motion picture is set in Argentina during the Dirty War of the 1970s and tells the story of a family hiding from the government in rural Argentina.

"Kamchatka" was Argentina's official submission for the 2002 Oscar Awards in the foreign language film category.

Plot

The film is seen through the eyes of a ten-year-old boy Harry (Matías del Pozo), who does not know Argentina's 1976 "coup d'état" is impacting his life.

After witnessing the "disappearance" of dissident friends, a human rights lawyer (Ricardo Darín) and his research scientist wife (Cecilia Roth) flee the city and hide from the military police in a vacant summer house. With them are their two kids: Harry, who is fascinated with the escape artistry of Harry Houdini, and "El Enano", his little brother. (Translated as "Little Guy" in the English subtitles, played by Milton de la Canal.) The family adopts new identities and attempts to lead a normal life. Later, they are joined by a student going by the alias of Lucas (Tomás Fonzi).

Their new life is difficult, but a visit with their estranged grandparents (Fernanda Mistral and Héctor Alterio) reveal they are still a close-knit family.

Subtly hinted, and used as a metaphor, is the mother's constant smoking and "El Enano's" renewed bed-wetting. Both serve to show how stressful and precarious their situation is.

Background

Basis of film

The film is based on the political event that took place in Argentina after Jorge Rafael Videla's reactionary military "junta" assumed power in March 24, 1976. During the junta's rule: the parliament was suspended, unions, political parties and provincial governments were banned, and in what became known as the Dirty War between 9,000 and 30,000 people deemed left-wing "subversives" disappeared from society. [ [http://www.yendor.com/vanished/ The Vanished Gallery] .]

Screenplay According to the Internet Movie Database the screenplay was written by Marcelo Figueras, based on an original story written by Figueras and Marcelo Piñeyro. When the time for the nominations came, the Argentine Film Critics Association credited the authorship of the final script to both of them.

Title of film The title refers to the Russian northeastern state, which, in the movie, is used by the family father in the boardgame TEG as the ultimate stand-off and uses it as his last resource to win. The title thus alludes to the family situation of hiding away from imminent peril as a final act of defiance before their ultimate downfall.

Politics in Argentine films "Kamchatka" is part of what can be considered a second group of films to be made in Argentina since the downfall of General Leopoldo Galtieri and his autocratic regime in 1982 (the last dictatorship in Argentina). Another film in the second group is "Veronico Cruz" (1988).

The first group, like "The Official Story" (1985), "Night of the Pencils" (1986), and "Funny Dirty Little War" (1983) dealt frankly with the repression, the tortures, and the disappearances during Argentina's Dirty War in the 1970s.

This second group of films uses metaphor and suggestive images, and hint at wider socio-political issues. [ [http://www.fipresci.org/festivals/archive/2003/havana_2003/havana2003_msmoray.htm Santos Moray, Mercedes] . FIPRESCI, "A Trip to Kamchatka," film review at the Havana Film Festival, 2003.] [ [http://www.newint.org.au/issue192/reviews.htm "New Internationalist"] . Issue 192, February 1989.]

Cast

* Ricardo Darín as Dad, David Vincent (alias)
* Cecilia Roth as Mom Vincent (alias)
* Matías Del Pozo as Harry (alias)
* Milton De La Canal as Simón, "El Enano" (alias)
* Héctor Alterio as Grandfather
* Fernanda Mistral as Grandmother
* Tomás Fonzi as Lucas
* Mónica Scapparone as Bertuccio's Mother

Critical reception

In a review, critic Anji Milanovic called the film an "heartrending drama" and liked the look of the film. He wrote, "The cinematography is gorgeous, and the Argentine countryside looks like a fairytale, all the more distressing given the killing and torture that occurred. The terror they feel is shown in little vignettes of family life." [ [http://www.plume-noire.com/movies/reviews/kamchatka.html Milanovic, Anji] . "La Plume Noire," film review, 2003.]

Film critic A. Fernandez-Santos, critic for the Spanish daily "El País," wrote "Kamchatka has many features to be considered a masterpiece, it's cinema at its best, gifted with a great strength of emotional impact. It is a tender, grievous and touching elegy. Underneath the intense silent walls of captivity, it hides the thud and rage of the immeasurable collective tragedy." [ [http://www.menemshafilms.com/index.php?src=news&prid=7&category=Kamchatka&PHPSESSID=188adffe341cf4b327ccb1e6aad4556a Fernandez-Santos, A] . "El País," film review, November 29, 2002.]

Mercedes Santos Moray, reporting from the Havana Film Festival, liked that director Piñeyro delivered in giving the audience a suggestive image of the tragic, historical events, and wrote, "The painful memory is represented in an intimate way. Piñeyro works both with the feelings and the reason. His film is a metaphor about the dimensions of freedom. The people still suffer but the danger has disappeared. There are only the phantoms of the past... A family in the film escape the repressions for a moment, but at last their lives are affected by the violent events." [Santos Moray, Mercedes. Ibid.]

Awards

Wins
* Argentine Film Critics Association Awards: Silver Condor; Best Sound, Carlos Abbate and José Luis Díaz; 2003.
* Cartagena Film Festival: Golden India Catalina; Best Screenplay, Marcelo Figueras and Marcelo Piñeyro; 2003.
* Havana Film Festival: Best Screenplay, Marcelo Piñeyro; Grand Coral - Third Prize, Marcelo Piñeyro; 2003.
* Vancouver International Film Festival: Most Popular Film Marcelo Piñeyro; 2003.
* Young Artist Awards: Young Artist Award; Best Young Ensemble in an International Film, Tomás Fonzi, Matías Del Pozo and Milton De La Canal; 2003.

Nominations
* Argentine Film Critics Association Awards: Silver Condor; Best Actor, Ricardo Darín; Best Art Direction, Jorge Ferrari; Best Cinematography, Alfredo F. Mayo; Best Original Screenplay, Marcelo Figueras and Marcelo Piñeyro; 2003.
* Cartagena Film Festival: Golden India Catalina; Best Film, Marcelo Piñeyro; 2003.
* Flanders International Film Festival: "Grand Prix", Marcelo Piñeyro; 2003.

References

External links

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* [http://www.cinenacional.com/peliculas/index.php?pelicula=2775 "Kamchatka"] en cinenacional.com es icon.