IMAGINING ARGENTINA

Antonio Banderas, Emma Thompson, Ruben Blades, Leticia Dolera

"An extraordinary story of love, compassion and danger."

At first I thought it was going to be a haunting film about the "Desaparacidos". Those people who were kidnapped, tortured and killed during the dark bleak period in Argentina's history. (1976 - 1983). But it turned out to be a long tedious film about one man's (Antonio Banderas) ability to see in his mind what really happened to some of the victims. You know he has some sort of clairvoyant powers. After his own wife is 'arrested' from their home, he suddenly develops images in his mind which flash the whereabouts of the victims. So every Thursday evening, some of the relatives go to his house so he can tell them if the missing persons are still alive or not. In the meantime, he relies on some clues he sees in his flashes to find his own wife. He wanders off to strange places even ending up in some remote part of Argentina where a couple who are survivors of Auschwitz reside. 

By this time, the film totally lost it. Turning into a long and winding twist into unknown territory but certainly not in a macabre way, it just felt strange that's all. Emma Thompson who plays his wife, Cecilia has a short role, you only get to see her in some scenes where she is being tortured. Good acting as expected from her even when she tries hard to develop a Spanish accent. I've always believed that Antonio Banderas was a good actor until he ventured into Hollywood and he allowed them to corrupt his talent. But I guess there isn't much he can do when presented with a bad script such as this film. It had the potential to delve deeper into a very sensitive theme and serve as some sort of political propaganda. But it failed miserably because it instead focused on him being a psychic. We are never told the reason why he has this supernatural powers/abilities. The only positive thing I can say about this film is that love indeed conquers all.