Imaging Argentina

EMMA THOMPSON sits in her cell in “Imagining Argentina.”

‘Imagining Argentina’ needed concentration more on people

It’s a story about life in violent Argentina in the mid 1970s, where people often just “go missing.”
“Imagining Argentina” stars Antonio Banderas as a theater owner. His plays often include younger people. How they make money, I’m not sure.
Emma Thompson is his wife, Cecilia, a journalist whose writings include some criticism of the government.
As happens with many people during that time, she goes “missing.”
Her husband prints up flyers. He takes to the streets showing people her photo. He even goes to the government for help.
Now the Banderas character’s problems are not unique. Many people have missing relatives. Heck, during a public meeting to discuss the problem, government henchmen kidnap some of the people in attendance.
When Carlos’ play gets political, soldiers in attendance machine gun the front facade. Then they kidnap the meek, largely blameless theater manager.
Carlos also develops a gift, he can hold someone’s hand and describe the fate of a loved one.
One person escaped the bad guys and would soon reunite with family. Another doesn’t have such luck.
The plot is interesting enough, what with the political intrigue and all, so why are there long stretches of, well, boredom?
The Banderas character and his daughter, played by Irene Escolar, try to live as normal of a life as possible.
Meanwhile, we see the Thompson character being raped by soldiers, with the exception of one soldier who just doesn’t think it is right. But he stays, because he needs the job.
After the political theater, the government bullies don’t stop with the theater manager. Daughter stays with friends but decides to stay home with Daddy for just one night.
Wrong, wrong, wrong. The bad guys go in and grab her and whisk her off to be reunited with her mother.
It isn’t that the captors have soft hearts. They now have a fresh, younger female to rape and torture.
One young, sadistic guard even decides Mom should decide who should rape daughter next. She’s not keen on the idea.
After long passages where little happens, it suddenly gets exciting.
But the ESP angle, the introduction of fantasy, sort of softens the impact of the story.
Then, after all of this brutality, we suddenly get a nice ending. Well, yes, it is a fantasy.
Somewhere in here is a good, thought-provoking movie about a brutal, nasty government and what it does to its citizens and how it impacts people.
The writers and producers apparently thought that wasn’t enough of a story line so they added more. Maybe they should have concentrated more on the people and who they were and what they were like and the end result.
Yes, I’m imaging a better movie.

IMAGINING ARGENTINA
• Directed by Christopher Hampton
• Written by Lawrence Thornton and Christopher Hampton
• Rated R for violence, torture and brief language
• Runtime: 107 minutes
• 2 1/2 stars out of 4