#TV TROPES MY FRIEND PEDRO TRIAL#
#TV TROPES MY FRIEND PEDRO PROFESSIONAL#

The unflashy attention to period details by production designer Micaela Saiegh and costume designer Mónica Toschi serves the story well, never distracting from Strassera and the work at hand.Īs to why Strassera is nicknamed Loco (Crazy) by friends as well as foes like smug public defender Basile (Héctor Díaz), there’s no indication until, well into the trial, he makes some gutsy rude gestures at the defendants. It’s work for which the boy, well played by Santiago Armas Estevarena, has an affinity, and he’ll put that knack to use again, to humorous effect.Ĭinematographer Juliá captures Buenos Aires’ bustle, the imposing scale of the government buildings where much of the action unfolds in cramped offices. There’s a comic edge to the way he enlists his young teenage son, Javier, to spy on his sibling. To an exasperated Silvia’s disbelief, Strassera suspects that the new boyfriend of their daughter, Veronica (Gina Mastronicola), is an undercover agent trying to get to him.

Besides fearing that he’s being used by the new administration, he fears for the safety of his wife, Silvia (Alejandra Flechner), and their children - and with good reason, given the barrage of death threats they receive. The way Strassera’s rational anxieties sometimes spill into paranoia offers a window into the ways the reign of terror has infected a society. Then he wonders if he’s being set up as a patsy in a show trial.

#TV TROPES MY FRIEND PEDRO TRIAL#

Even so, Strassera doesn’t believe a civil trial will happen until the weighty assignment lands on his desk. The 1983 election of President Alfonsín ended seven years of dictatorship, and he decreed that the juntas’ chiefs stand accused of the kidnapping, torture, murder and disappearance of tens of thousands of Argentine citizens. But he conveys the enormity of the undertaking at the film’s center - the first major war crimes trial since Nuremberg - and it’s felt in every moment of Darín’s compelling portrayal.Ī few title cards set up the background before the action launches into Strassera’s involvement in the case, which would try nine military commanders, three of them former presidents, for crimes against humanity. The balance between detail and momentum can at times be off, and the helmer doesn’t entirely avoid generic tropes of the legal drama. With DP Javier Juliá and composer Pedro Osuna, the helmer builds a mood of deep-in-the-bones unease, if not always a sense of dramatic urgency. For a wider viewership, Argentina, 1985 is an instructive and thoughtful depiction of what it takes to hold tyrants accountable within the perimeters of a legal system, the persistence and paperwork and fearlessness required to achieve justice.Įschewing a genre template that calls for grandstanding scenes, Mitre instead doles out quiet revelations. The film’s greatest resonance will naturally be with Argentine audiences who know firsthand the legacy of the juntas’ so-called dirty war against perceived subversives.

For the title character of the 2015 drama, the atrocity, lies and politics are specific and personal for the central figure in Argentina, 1985, the violence and horror he must address have poisoned the atmosphere of an entire country.Ĭritics' Picks: Cate Blanchett, Steven Spielberg Films Among the 15 Best of the Fall Festivals Like Mitre’s Paulina, the feature revolves around a tightly contained protagonist facing brutal realities.

#TV TROPES MY FRIEND PEDRO PROFESSIONAL#

Dialing down his natural charisma, Argentine star Ricardo Darín, of the international hit The Secret in Their Eyes and Mitre’s The Summit, delivers a performance of restraint and intense focus as Julio Strassera, a government attorney who masks his very real sense of panic with professional doggedness. “Inspired by actual events,” the screenplay by Mitre and Mariano Llinás is, like its hero, more methodical than electrifying. Screenwriters: Santiago Mitre, Mariano Llinás Venue: Venice Film Festival (Competition)Ĭast: Ricardo Darín, Peter Lanzani, Alejandra Flechner, Santiago Armas Estevarena, Laura Paredes, Norman Briski, Claudio Da Passano

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