Chronicle of an Escape (film)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Chronicle of an Escape | |
|---|---|
 Theatrical Poster |
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| Directed by | Israel Adrián Caetano |
| Produced by | Oscar Kramer Hugo Sigman |
| Written by | Screenplay: Israel Adrián Caetano Esteban Student Julian Loyola Story: Claudio Tamburrini |
| Starring | Rodrigo de la Serna Pablo Echarri Nazareno Casero |
| Music by | Ivan Wyszogrod |
| Cinematography | Julián Apezteguia |
| Editing by | Alberto Ponce |
| Distributed by | 20th Century Fox The Weinstein Company |
| Release date(s) | Argentina: March 24, 2006 Canada: September 8, 2006 United States: October 26, 2006 |
| Running time | 104 minutes |
| Country |  Argentina |
| Language | Spanish |
| Official website | |
| All Movie Guide profile | |
| IMDb profile | |
Chronicle of an Escape (Spanish: Crónica de una fuga) is an Argentine film released in 2006, directed by Israel Adrián Caetano.
The screenplay is written by Caetano, Esteban Student, and Julian Loyola, based on the autobiographical Pase libre – la fuga de la Mansion Seré written by Claudio Tamburrini.[1] The movie is also known as: Buenos Aires, 1977.
The motion picture was produced by Oscar Kramer and Hugo Sigman and stars Rodrigo de la Serna, Pablo Echarri, Nazareno Casero, and others.
The film was Argentina's entry for the 2007 Golden Globes Awards for the Best Foreign Language Film, and director Israel Adrián Caetano was nominated at the Cannes Film Festival for a Golden Palm.
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[edit] Plot
The film tells the true story of four men who narrowly escaped death at the hands of a military death squad during the Argentinean dirty war in the 1970s.
In 1977, Claudio Tamburrini (Rodrigo de la Serna) was a goalie for a minor league soccer/fútbol team when he was forcefully kidnapped by members of the Argentine secret military police.
He's taken to a detention center known as Sere Mansion: an old dibilitated house in the suburban neighborhood of Morón on the suspicion he's an anti-government terrorist.
Tamburrini is tortured by his jailers frequently. Yet, they look for information he doesn't have because he's not a political activist and never was. Tamburrini expects to be killed by the ruthless guards at any time.
After four months of imprisonment, and many sessions of torture, Tamburrini and his fellow captives Guillermo (Nazareno Casero), Tano (Martin Urruty), and another man dive out a window during a rainstorm.
The four, naked and with noting but their senses, began a desperate flight to freedom.
[edit] Exhibition
The film first opened in Argentina on March 24, 2006.
The film was shown at various film festivals, including: the Cannes Film Festival, France; the Toronto Film Festival, Canada; and others.
In the United States it was featured at the Austin Film Festival in Texas on October 26, 2006.
[edit] Background
[edit] Basis of film
The film is based on a real 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.[2]
The film is about one such instance: the kidnaping of Claudio Tamburrini, a goalkeeper of a B-league soccer team, who's taken to a clandestine detention center and tortured. He escaped and wrote Pase libre – la fuga de la Mansion Seré a harrowing account of his experience.
Before the production began director Israel Adrián Caetano traveled to meet Tamburrini in Stockholm, where he now lives, to learn the truth about the event. There he also met met Guillermo Fernández, the man who initiated the breakout.[3] Both former prisoners helped Caetano and the screenwriters stick closely to the theme of the film: survival.
[edit] Production
The production was dificult according to Caetano. He said, "The filming was an endless challenge: shooting almost entirely within four walls, trusting the outcome to the acting, the framing, and the light. It was not always easy to generate fear, paranoia, and neurosis from this prison. Our challenge was how to re-create the madness these prisoners endured."[4]
[edit] Critical reception
The film's reviews have been mixed. The Hollywood Reporter's John DeFore thinks American audiences will like the thriller and its pace, especially after the men escape in the rain. He believes that Chronicle of an Escape will give American audiences "an icky feeling" when they view the "fact-based Argentinean story through the stylized lens of a horror film. Laced with dread that builds to a thoroughly gripping third act, it should do well with art house audiences who like their history lessons to come with a shot of adrenaline."[5]
Deborah Young, writing for Variety, generally liked the film, yet felt the film's atonal score was at times irritating. She said, "[F]orceful acting plays a key role in giving the story credibility, with De La Serna and Casero lighting the way." She also says the film "feels hollow at the core, leaving a feeling of lingering disappointment over a missed opportunity to probe recent history."[6]
[edit] Cast and ratings
| Ratings | |
|---|---|
| Argentina: | 13 |
| United States: | R |
- Rodrigo de la Serna as Claudio Tamburrini
- Pablo Echarri as Huguito
- Nazareno Casero as Guillermo Fernández
- Daniel Valenzuela as Alemán
- Lautaro Delgado as El Gallego
- Matías Marmorato as El Vasco
- Martín Urruty as El Tano
- Diego Alons as Lucas
- Leonardo Bargiga as Capitán Almagro
[edit] Awards
Wins
- Clarín Awards: Clarin Award; Best Director, Adrián Caetano; Best Film; Best New Actor, Nazareno Casero; Best Original Music, Iván Wyszogrod; Best Screenplay, Adrián Caetano, Esteban Student, and Julian Loyola; Best Supporting Actor, Nazareno Casero; 2006.
- Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences of Argentina Awards: Premios Sur; Best Supporting Actor, Nazareno Casero; Best New Actor, Nazareno Casero; Best Original Music, Iván Wyszogrod, 2006.[7]
Nominations
- Cannes Film Festival: Golden Palm, Adrián Caetano, 2006.
- Independent Spirit Awards: Independent Spirit Award Best Foreign Film, Adrián Caetano, Argentina, 2007.
[edit] Footnotes
- ^ Chronicle of an Escape at the Internet Movie Database.
- ^ The Vanished Gallery.
- ^ Levy, Emanuel. Interview with Israel Adrián Caetano by Levy.
- ^ Levy, Emanuel. Ibid.
- ^ DeFore, John. The Hollywood Reporter, film review at the Austin Film Festival, October 31, 2006.
- ^ Young, Deborah. Variety, "Bottom Line: Real life becomes a horror film in tale of Argentinean secret jail," film review at the Cannes Film Festival, May 27, 2006.
- ^ Clarín. "El filme "Las manos" arrasó en la entrega de los Premios Sur," article about film awards, December 12, 2006.
[edit] External links
 Cinema of Argentina |
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Film Chronology • Pre-1910 • 1910s • 1920s • 1930s • 1940s • 1950s • 1960s • 1970s • 1980s • 1990s • 2000s |
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