Garage Olimpo
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| Garage Olimpo | |
|---|---|
 DVD Cover |
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| Directed by | Marco Bechis |
| Produced by | Producers: Daniel Burman Diego Dubcovsky Amedeo Pagani Eric Heumann |
| Written by | Marco Bechis Lara Fremder |
| Starring | Antonella Costa Carlos Echevarría Enrique Piñeyro |
| Music by | Jacques Lederlin |
| Cinematography | Ramiro Civita |
| Editing by | Jacopo Quadri |
| Distributed by | Aqua Films BD Cine |
| Release date(s) | France: May 16, 1999 |
| Running time | 98 minutes |
| Country | Argentina France Italy |
| Language | Spanish |
| Budget | $3,000,000 estimated. |
| Official website | |
| All Movie Guide profile | |
| IMDb profile | |
Garage Olimpo (English: Olimpo Garage) is an Argentine, French, and Italian film released in 1999, directed by Marco Bechis, and written by Bechis and Lara Fremder.[1]
The film was produced by Daniel Burman, Diego Dubcovsky, Amedeo Pagani (Italy), and Eric Heumann (France).
The picture is about a young and political active Argentine woman who is kidnapped by the military during Argentina's Dirty War in the late 1970s. She's taken to a torture center called Garage Olimpo in the middle of Buenos Aires.
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[edit] Plot
The film tells of Maria (Antonella Costa), a political activist in an Argentine organization that is fighting the oppressive military dictatorship during the Dirty War.
She also teaches reading and writing in the suburbs of Buenos Aires in a blighted area.
She too lives in a decrepit rooming house with her mother Diane (Dominique Sanda), who rents out some rooms. One of the lodgers is a young man named Felix (Carlos Echevarría), who's in love with Maria, and rather shy.
Felix seems to have come from nowhere and is supposed to work as a watchman in a garage. One morning, Maria is kidnapped by a military squad in civilian clothes in front of her mother and is taken to the garage Olimpo, one of the many well-known torture places in the middle of Buenoa Aires, which operate to the general indifference of the local citizens.
As soon as Maria is captured the the film's mood becomes uncomfortable and the atmosphere is minimalist.
Tigre, who's the head of the center (Enrique Piñeyro), appoints Felix, their best torturer, to make Maria talk.
Yet, Felix is overcome by his feelings for Maria, and Maria is determined to exploit the situation with Felix for her survival.
[edit] Exhibition
Thew film was first presented at the Cannes Film Festival on May 16, 1999. It opened wide in Argentina on September 2, 1999.
The film was screened at various film festivals, including: the Toronto Film Festival, Canada; the Huelva Latin American Film Festival, Spain; the Norwegian International Film Festival, Norway; the Human Rights Watch Film Festival, New York; the Amnesty International Film Festival, Netherlands; and others.
[edit] Background
The film is based on the real political events 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]
As the country celebrated its win of the World Cup, many political activists were tortured in Buenos Aires and then later taken on "death flights." Victims were drugged and then dropped alive into the Atlantic Ocean from military aircraft.
Chilean born director Marco Bechis was a victim of the country's military regime and was forced to leave Argentina in 1977, at the age of 20, for political reasons.[3]
[edit] Critical reception
The film was well received by film critics and at the various film festivals it was screened.
Film critic Stephen Holden, who writes for the New York Times, says the film is "notable on the international front...a not-for-the-squeamish film from Argentina about an opponent of the military dictatorship who is tortured in a garage in the heart of Buenos Aires."[4]
Critic Jonathan Hollander liked the directorial lead of Marco Bechis. He said, "Garage Olimpo is the kind of valuable cultural product that symbolises political regeneration...himself a victim of the country's regime - he was forced to leave Argentina in 1977, at the age of 20, for political reasons - director Marco Bechis has the necessary moral authority to make this film."[5]
[edit] Cast and ratings
| Ratings | |
|---|---|
| Argentina: | 16 |
| Chile: | 18 |
| Finland: | K-15 |
| France: | U |
| Germany: | 12 |
| Italy: | VM14 |
| Poland: | 15 |
| Spain: | 13 |
| United Kingdom: | 15 |
| United States: | R |
- Antonella Costa as Maria
- Carlos Echevarría as Felix
- Enrique Piñeyro as Tigre
- Pablo Razuk as Tex
- Chiara Caselli as Ana
- Dominique Sanda as Diane
- Paola Bechis as Gloria
- Adrián Fondari as Rubio
- Marcelo Chaparro as Turco
- Miguel Oliveira as Nene
- Ruy Krieger as Francisco
- Marcos Montes as Víbora
[edit] Awards
Wins
- Havana Film Festival: Cuban Critics Award; Glauber Rocha Award; Grand Coral - First Prize; Martin Luther King Memorial Center Award; OCIC Award; all for Marco Bechis; 1999.
- Thessaloniki Film Festival: FIPRESCI Prize International Competition - For the conviction and subtlety with which it conveys the mechanisms of terror both political and psychological; Silver Alexander; both for Marco Bechis; 1999.
- Huelva Latin American Film Festival: Golden Colon, Marco Bechis; 1999.
- Lleida Latin-American Film Festival: ICCI Screenplay Award; Marco Bechis and Lara Fremder; 2000.
- Lucas - International Festival of Films for Children and Young People: C.I.F.E.J. Award - Special Mention; Lucas Youth Section; Marco Bechis; 2000.
- Argentine Film Critics Association Awards: Best Editing, Jacopo Quadri; 2000.
- Cartagena Film Festival: Golden India Catalina, Best Film, Marco Bechis; 2000.
[edit] Footnotes
- ^ Garage Olimpo at the Internet Movie Database
- ^ The Vanished Gallery.
- ^ Hollander, Jonathan. FilmFestivals.com, reporting from Cannes Film Festival, 1999.
- ^ Holden, Stephen. New York Times, "No Fluff, No Gimmickry In These Searing Stories," June 16, 2000.
- ^ Hollander, Jonathan. Ibid.
[edit] External links
- Garage Olimpo at cinenacional.com (Spanish).
