Written by Andreas Babiolakis

Throughout the awards season, we’ll get around to some much-discussed films that we didn’t previously review.

After Argentina, 1985 beat some major contenders for the Best Foreign Language Film award at this year’s Golden Globes (winning over the powerful All Quiet on the Western Front, the mysteriously thrilling Decision to Leave, the emotionally devastating Close, and the infectious RRR), the tables for this year’s awards season race turned. Then again, all things considered, it is quite easy to see that Argentina, 1985 is somewhat of a crowd pleasing courtroom drama (albeit one that doesn’t get too sweet or vapid in the process). Based on the intense Trial of the Juntas of the titular year, Argentina, 1985 examines a military dictatorship that rocked a nation for years. Enter lawyers Julio César Strassera, Luis Moreno Ocampo, and their diligent team of aspiring legal warriors that stood up against the National Reorganization Process and the damage it caused. It would almost seem too nuts to be real, but sadly this is a bulk of recent history in Argentina: the nine military officers that were connected to nearly nine thousand abductions done in secret.

While Argentina, 1985 has to focus on this dark moment in time (it’s kind of the premise, after all), director Santiago Mitre tries to keep both a neutral mindset and a sense of optimism throughout the film. At times, Argentina, 1985 almost resembles a hard-hitting, no-nonsense documentary (like, say, Collective: a non-fiction film about a team of journalists that crack down on the health-care fraudulence in Romania following an unfortunate accident at a club). These are the moments I liked the most. I felt sucked into the trial, the research, the unfortunate discoveries. It’s a great blend of journalist and courtroom films, and Argentina, 1985 is equal parts engaging and stern (at microscopic levels, and on a large scale). The film savours its Hollywood-like triumph for when it matters, and while this somewhat dulls the height of these moments in my eyes, the story at the heart of Argentina, 1985 is too major to feel completely undersold by these brief tendencies to indulge in Spielbergian tropes.

Either way, perhaps it is the straight forwardness of Argentina, 1985 that may resonate with audiences the most, as there most certainly aren’t any embellishments outside of the occasional Hollywoodization: this is only a small fraction of this picture. The vast majority of Argentina, 1985’s two hours and twenty minutes is devoted towards letting the harrowing history speak for itself, and allowing us to feel like the stunned characters on screen that cannot fathom the revelations they are uncovering. The discovery side of Argentina, 1985 is tense on its own, but the trial itself is where the film gets its most terrifying to me (yes, even more than the disturbing images of death and terror) because we see our prosecutors face evil head-on; there’s something about staring at the unassuming faces of the atrocious that gets to me. I may be picky with sugary sentimentality, but Argentina, 1985 hits the nail on the head when it is serious: it is guaranteed to give you shivers down your spine. Perhaps a film full with as much shocking ugliness as this needs a pick-me-up here or there; is it worth dwelling in the misery when the film is promoting the fact that the nation of Argentina won? I guess not. Argentina, 1985 is sure to continue winning audiences over the more coverage it gets, and I can easily see why.

Andreas Babiolakis has a Masters degree in Film and Photography Preservation and Collections Management from Toronto Metropolitan University, as well as a Bachelors degree in Cinema Studies from York University. His favourite times of year are the Criterion Collection flash sales and the annual Toronto International Film Festival.