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Latin American Film Festival brings history and intrigue to Boise State University
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The Latin American Film Festival came to Boise State Wednesday, March 14 and showcased the movie “Garage Olimpo.”
The Latin American Film Festival is an annual event intended to allow the students of Boise State University the opportunity to become enriched in the vibrancy of various aspects within the Latin cultures. Students of Latin descent can identify with as well as learn more about their own heritage through the festival.
“Garage Olimpo” is a dark, political drama dealing with the military dictatorship in Argentina during the late 1970s and early 1980s.
In 1976, the Argentine armed forces overthrew the government and took control of the country. General Jorge Rafael Videla came to power and embarked on a ruthless campaign against anyone who seemed to oppose the views of the military in any way.
The forces of General Videla kidnapped “suspects” who were mysteriously never seen or heard from again. There were an estimated 11,000 disappearances within Argentina.
Prisons overflowed, torture was common and trials were nonexistent.
These horrible acts against basic human rights raged
throughout the land from 1976 to 1982 in what came to be known as the “dirty war.”
The world around Argentina began to take notice and the atrocities of the “dirty war” began to cease in response to the pressure induced specifically from the United States when President James E. Carter Jr. refused to keep sending military aid to Argentina.
“Garage Olimpo” tells the story of the “dirty war” from the perspective of the people who were forced to disappear.
The movie was viewed in the Lookout Room located upstairs in the Student Union Building with a small audience of mostly Spanish-speaking students.
Adrian Kane, a Spanish Professor at BSU, introduced the movie with the brief overview of the “dirty war.”
The history behind the movie is intriguing, unbelievable and heartbreaking.
Studens were brought into visual relations of what it may have been like to be caught in the middle of such an event.
But there seemed to be a major problem. The movie was in Spanish with no English subtitles. This made it hard for non-Spanish speaking viewers. This alienates viewers who don’t know te language.
Viewers don’t really need to understand the words in order to feel the harsh, gritty feelings emitted from the film. Everything about the movie was dark from the actual coloring to the characters to the underlying tone.
The movie centers around a young girl who is kidnapped by the government and locked up. She is tortured and eventually killed, along with so many others.
There are various intricate twists and turns throughout her captivity leading up to her death that are quite simply riveting.
Professor Kane and a few other students lingered after the movie enlighten the non-Spanish-spealking viewers as to the major aspects of the movie and the language.
If the movie was that compelling to someone who couldn’t understand the language, I could only imagine the impact upon the viewer who could understand.
CHARITY VERNER
Culture Writer
