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Chronicle of an Escape (film)
Encyclopedia
Chronicle of an Escape is a 2006 Argentine
film, directed by Israel Adrián Caetano
. The screenplay is written by Caetano, Esteban Student, and Julian Loyola, based on the autobiographical Pase libre – la fuga de la Mansion Seré written by Claudio Tamburrini. The movie is also known as Buenos Aires, 1977. The motion picture was produced by Oscar Kramer
and Hugo Sigman, and stars Rodrigo de la Serna
, Pablo Echarri
, Nazareno Casero
, and others.
The film was Argentina's entry for the 2007 Golden Globes Awards for the Best Foreign Language Film, and director Israel Adrián Caetano was nominated at the 2006 Cannes Film Festival
for a Golden Palm.
The film tells the true story of four men who narrowly escaped death at the hands of a military death squad during the Argentine Dirty War
in the 1970s.
) was a goalie for a minor league soccer team when he was kidnapped by members of the Argentine secret military police. He is taken to a detention center known as Sere Mansion: an old dilapidated house in the suburban neighborhood of Morón
on the suspicion he is an anti-government terrorist.
Tamburrini is tortured by his jailers frequently. Yet, they look for information he does not have because he is not a political activist and never was. Tamburrini expects to be killed by the ruthless guards at any time. After four months of imprisonment, and many sessions of torture, Tamburrini and his fellow captives Guillermo (Nazareno Casero
), Vasco and another man dive out a window during a rainstorm. The four, naked and with nothing but their senses, began a desperate flight to freedom.
's reactionary military junta
assumed power on 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
.
The film is about one such instance: the kidnapping of Claudio Tamburrini, a goalkeeper of a B-league soccer/fútbol team, who's taken to a clandestine detention center and tortured. He escaped and wrote Pase libre – la fuga de la Mansion Seré, a harrowing account of his experience.
Before the production began director Israel Adrián Caetano traveled to meet Tamburrini in Stockholm
, where he now lives, to learn the truth about the event. There he also met Guillermo Fernández, the man who initiated the breakout. Both former prisoners helped Caetano and the screenwriters stick closely to the theme of the film - survival.
's John DeFore thinks American audiences will like the thriller and its pace, especially after the men escape in the rain. He believes that Chronicle of an Escape will give American audiences "an icky feeling" when they view the "fact-based Argentine story through the stylized lens of a horror film. Laced with dread that builds to a thoroughly gripping third act, it should do well with art house audiences who like their history lessons to come with a shot of adrenaline."
Critic Deborah Young, writing for Variety
magazine, generally liked the film yet felt the film's atonal score was at times irritating. She wrote, "[F]orceful acting plays a key role in giving the story credibility, with De La Serna and Casero lighting the way." She also says the film "feels hollow at the core, leaving a feeling of lingering disappointment over a missed opportunity to probe recent history."
Critic Clark Collis liked the film and wrote, "Chronicle of an Escape's premise may remind you of Sly Stallone's enjoyably preposterous 1981 soccer/incarceration flick, Victory
, but this true-story-based movie scores in a different way...The result is blessed with great performances; director Israel Adrián Caetano lets events speak — and plead and weep — for themselves."
Stephen Holden, critic for The New York Times
, discussed the film from today's political perspective in the United States. He wrote, "Despite its restraint, Chronicle of an Escape is deeply unsettling. Although the events it depicts happened 30 years ago in South America, it inevitably triggers anguished thoughts of Abu Ghraib
, Guantánamo Bay and extraordinary rendition
...But as a suspenseful drama of captivity and escape, the movie is a carefully paced, persuasively acted thriller. Its first two-thirds observe Claudio's four-month internment, during which he becomes resigned to the idea that he will be killed. Unlike the other captives, he does not belong to a subversive group; midway through the film he discovers to his fury that an acquaintance and fellow prisoner, while under torture, lied and named him as the owner of a mimeograph machine that printed antigovernment leaflets. The message is explicit: Torture may make people talk, but they’ll say anything to avoid further abuse."
Critic Jan Stuart echoed Stephen Holden and wrote, "If there is anything more disturbing than any of the tortures glimpsed in the film, it is turning on the evening news afterward and being reminded that the use of such hardball practices are still, in the minds of some, a subject for debate."
The review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes
reported that 60% of critics gave the film a positive review, based on fifteen reviews.
The film was shown at various film festivals, including: the 2006 Cannes Film Festival
, France; the Toronto Film Festival, Canada; the Toulouse Latin America Film Festival, France; the Espoo Ciné International Film Festival
, Finland; and others.
In the United States it was featured at the Austin Film Festival
in Texas
on October 26, 2006.
Nominations
Argentina
Argentina , officially the Argentine Republic , is the second largest country in South America by land area, after Brazil. It is constituted as a federation of 23 provinces and an autonomous city, Buenos Aires...
film, directed by Israel Adrián Caetano
Israel Adrián Caetano
Israel Adrián Caetano is an Uruguayan-Argentine film director, producer and screenplay writer.-Biography:He's often credited as Adrián Caetano. He works mainly in the cinema of Argentina and at times obtains funding for his films in Europe. He lives in Buenos Aires, Argentina.At age of sixteen his...
. The screenplay is written by Caetano, Esteban Student, and Julian Loyola, based on the autobiographical Pase libre – la fuga de la Mansion Seré written by Claudio Tamburrini. The movie is also known as Buenos Aires, 1977. The motion picture was produced by Oscar Kramer
Oscar Kramer
Oscar Kramer was an Argentine film producer. He was born in Buenos Aires. He worked in the cinema of Argentina.-Filmography:* Eversmile, New Jersey * Alambrado aka Barbed Wire...
and Hugo Sigman, and stars Rodrigo de la Serna
Rodrigo de la Serna
Rodrigo de la Serna is an Argentine actor.In 2004, he won the Silver Condor for best actor and the Independent Spirit Award for "Best Debut Performance" for the film The Motorcycle Diaries, for which he earned a nomination for the Best Supporting Actor BAFTA Award...
, Pablo Echarri
Pablo Echarri
Pablo Daniel Echarri is a leading Argentine actor.He was born in Villa Dominico, Buenos Aires Province, and began his career on Argentine television in 1993...
, Nazareno Casero
Nazareno Casero
Nazareno Casero is an Argentine film and television actor. He works in the cinema of Argentina.- Biography :The son of actor Alfredo Casero, Nazareno started acting in 1996 under the direction of Alejandro Agresti, in Buenos Aires Vice Versa. His role earned him a Silver Condor nomination from the...
, and others.
The film was Argentina's entry for the 2007 Golden Globes Awards for the Best Foreign Language Film, and director Israel Adrián Caetano was nominated at the 2006 Cannes Film Festival
2006 Cannes Film Festival
The 2006 Cannes Film Festival ran from May 17, 2006 to May 28, 2006. Twenty films from eleven countries were in competition for the Palme d'Or. The President of the Official Jury was Wong Kar-wai, the first Chinese director to preside over the jury....
for a Golden Palm.
The film tells the true story of four men who narrowly escaped death at the hands of a military death squad during the Argentine Dirty War
Dirty War
The Dirty War was a period of state-sponsored violence in Argentina from 1976 until 1983. Victims of the violence included several thousand left-wing activists, including trade unionists, students, journalists, Marxists, Peronist guerrillas and alleged sympathizers, either proved or suspected...
in the 1970s.
Plot
In 1977, Claudio Tamburrini (Rodrigo de la SernaRodrigo de la Serna
Rodrigo de la Serna is an Argentine actor.In 2004, he won the Silver Condor for best actor and the Independent Spirit Award for "Best Debut Performance" for the film The Motorcycle Diaries, for which he earned a nomination for the Best Supporting Actor BAFTA Award...
) was a goalie for a minor league soccer team when he was kidnapped by members of the Argentine secret military police. He is taken to a detention center known as Sere Mansion: an old dilapidated house in the suburban neighborhood of Morón
Morón, Buenos Aires
Morón is a city in the Argentine province of Buenos Aires, capital of the Morón Partido, located in the Greater Buenos Aires metropolitan area, at...
on the suspicion he is an anti-government terrorist.
Tamburrini is tortured by his jailers frequently. Yet, they look for information he does not have because he is not a political activist and never was. Tamburrini expects to be killed by the ruthless guards at any time. After four months of imprisonment, and many sessions of torture, Tamburrini and his fellow captives Guillermo (Nazareno Casero
Nazareno Casero
Nazareno Casero is an Argentine film and television actor. He works in the cinema of Argentina.- Biography :The son of actor Alfredo Casero, Nazareno started acting in 1996 under the direction of Alejandro Agresti, in Buenos Aires Vice Versa. His role earned him a Silver Condor nomination from the...
), Vasco and another man dive out a window during a rainstorm. The four, naked and with nothing but their senses, began a desperate flight to freedom.
Cast
- Rodrigo de la SernaRodrigo de la SernaRodrigo de la Serna is an Argentine actor.In 2004, he won the Silver Condor for best actor and the Independent Spirit Award for "Best Debut Performance" for the film The Motorcycle Diaries, for which he earned a nomination for the Best Supporting Actor BAFTA Award...
as Claudio Tamburrini - Pablo EcharriPablo EcharriPablo Daniel Echarri is a leading Argentine actor.He was born in Villa Dominico, Buenos Aires Province, and began his career on Argentine television in 1993...
as Huguito - Nazareno CaseroNazareno CaseroNazareno Casero is an Argentine film and television actor. He works in the cinema of Argentina.- Biography :The son of actor Alfredo Casero, Nazareno started acting in 1996 under the direction of Alejandro Agresti, in Buenos Aires Vice Versa. His role earned him a Silver Condor nomination from the...
as Guillermo Fernández - Daniel ValenzuelaDaniel ValenzuelaDaniel Valenzuela , is a prolific film and television actor. He has also done some screenplay writing. He works in the cinema of Argentina....
as Alemán - Lautaro DelgadoLautaro DelgadoLautaro Delgado is an Argentine film and tv actor. In 2006, he appeared in Crónica de una fuga.-Filmography:Lautaro Delgado is an Argentine film and tv actor. In 2006, he appeared in Crónica de una fuga.-Filmography:...
as El Gallego - Matías Marmorato as El Vasco
- Martín Urruty as El Tano
- Diego Alons as Lucas
- Leonardo Bargiga as Capitán Almagro
Basis of film
The film is based on a real political event that took place in Argentina after Jorge Rafael VidelaJorge Rafael Videla
Jorge Rafael Videla Redondo is a former senior commander in the Argentine Army who was the de facto President of Argentina from 1976 to 1981. He came to power in a coup d'état that deposed Isabel Martínez de Perón...
's reactionary military junta
Military dictatorship
A military dictatorship is a form of government where in the political power resides with the military. It is similar but not identical to a stratocracy, a state ruled directly by the military....
assumed power on 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
Dirty War
The Dirty War was a period of state-sponsored violence in Argentina from 1976 until 1983. Victims of the violence included several thousand left-wing activists, including trade unionists, students, journalists, Marxists, Peronist guerrillas and alleged sympathizers, either proved or suspected...
between 9,000 and 30,000 people deemed left-wing "subversives" disappeared
Forced disappearance
In international human rights law, a forced disappearance occurs when a person is secretly abducted or imprisoned by a state or political organization or by a third party with the authorization, support, or acquiescence of a state or political organization, followed by a refusal to acknowledge the...
.
The film is about one such instance: the kidnapping of Claudio Tamburrini, a goalkeeper of a B-league soccer/fútbol team, who's taken to a clandestine detention center and tortured. He escaped and wrote Pase libre – la fuga de la Mansion Seré, a harrowing account of his experience.
Before the production began director Israel Adrián Caetano traveled to meet Tamburrini in Stockholm
Stockholm
Stockholm is the capital and the largest city of Sweden and constitutes the most populated urban area in Scandinavia. Stockholm is the most populous city in Sweden, with a population of 851,155 in the municipality , 1.37 million in the urban area , and around 2.1 million in the metropolitan area...
, where he now lives, to learn the truth about the event. There he also met Guillermo Fernández, the man who initiated the breakout. Both former prisoners helped Caetano and the screenwriters stick closely to the theme of the film - survival.
Production
The production was difficult according to Caetano. He said, "The filming was an endless challenge: shooting almost entirely within four walls, trusting the outcome to the acting, the framing, and the light. It was not always easy to generate fear, paranoia, and neurosis from this prison. Our challenge was how to re-create the madness these prisoners endured."Critical reception
The Hollywood ReporterThe Hollywood Reporter
Formerly a daily trade magazine, The Hollywood Reporter re-launched in late 2010 as a unique hybrid publication serving the entertainment industry and a consumer audience...
's John DeFore thinks American audiences will like the thriller and its pace, especially after the men escape in the rain. He believes that Chronicle of an Escape will give American audiences "an icky feeling" when they view the "fact-based Argentine story through the stylized lens of a horror film. Laced with dread that builds to a thoroughly gripping third act, it should do well with art house audiences who like their history lessons to come with a shot of adrenaline."
Critic Deborah Young, writing for Variety
Variety (magazine)
Variety is an American weekly entertainment-trade magazine founded in New York City, New York, in 1905 by Sime Silverman. With the rise of the importance of the motion-picture industry, Daily Variety, a daily edition based in Los Angeles, California, was founded by Silverman in 1933. In 1998, the...
magazine, generally liked the film yet felt the film's atonal score was at times irritating. She wrote, "[F]orceful acting plays a key role in giving the story credibility, with De La Serna and Casero lighting the way." She also says the film "feels hollow at the core, leaving a feeling of lingering disappointment over a missed opportunity to probe recent history."
Critic Clark Collis liked the film and wrote, "Chronicle of an Escape's premise may remind you of Sly Stallone's enjoyably preposterous 1981 soccer/incarceration flick, Victory
Escape to Victory
Escape to Victory, known simply as Victory in North America, is a 1981 film about Allied prisoners of war who are interned in a German prison camp during World War II...
, but this true-story-based movie scores in a different way...The result is blessed with great performances; director Israel Adrián Caetano lets events speak — and plead and weep — for themselves."
Stephen Holden, critic for The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
, discussed the film from today's political perspective in the United States. He wrote, "Despite its restraint, Chronicle of an Escape is deeply unsettling. Although the events it depicts happened 30 years ago in South America, it inevitably triggers anguished thoughts of Abu Ghraib
Abu Ghraib
The city of Abu Ghraib in the Baghdad Governorate of Iraq is located just west of Baghdad's city center, or northwest of Baghdad International Airport. It has a population of 189,000. The old road to Jordan passes through Abu Ghraib...
, Guantánamo Bay and extraordinary rendition
Extraordinary rendition
Extraordinary rendition is the abduction and illegal transfer of a person from one nation to another. "Torture by proxy" is used by some critics to describe situations in which the United States and the United Kingdom have transferred suspected terrorists to other countries in order to torture the...
...But as a suspenseful drama of captivity and escape, the movie is a carefully paced, persuasively acted thriller. Its first two-thirds observe Claudio's four-month internment, during which he becomes resigned to the idea that he will be killed. Unlike the other captives, he does not belong to a subversive group; midway through the film he discovers to his fury that an acquaintance and fellow prisoner, while under torture, lied and named him as the owner of a mimeograph machine that printed antigovernment leaflets. The message is explicit: Torture may make people talk, but they’ll say anything to avoid further abuse."
Critic Jan Stuart echoed Stephen Holden and wrote, "If there is anything more disturbing than any of the tortures glimpsed in the film, it is turning on the evening news afterward and being reminded that the use of such hardball practices are still, in the minds of some, a subject for debate."
The review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is a website devoted to reviews, information, and news of films—widely known as a film review aggregator. Its name derives from the cliché of audiences throwing tomatoes and other vegetables at a poor stage performance...
reported that 60% of critics gave the film a positive review, based on fifteen reviews.
Distribution
The film first opened in Argentina on March 24, 2006.The film was shown at various film festivals, including: the 2006 Cannes Film Festival
2006 Cannes Film Festival
The 2006 Cannes Film Festival ran from May 17, 2006 to May 28, 2006. Twenty films from eleven countries were in competition for the Palme d'Or. The President of the Official Jury was Wong Kar-wai, the first Chinese director to preside over the jury....
, France; the Toronto Film Festival, Canada; the Toulouse Latin America Film Festival, France; the Espoo Ciné International Film Festival
Espoo Ciné International Film Festival
Espoo Ciné International Film Festival is an annual event held in Espoo, Finland, in August. The festival was established in 1990 and it has since grown to be one of Finland's leading film festivals , screening about 100 feature films each year in addition to short films.Espoo Ciné focuses on...
, Finland; and others.
In the United States it was featured at the Austin Film Festival
Austin Film Festival
The Austin Film Festival was started in 1994 in Austin, Texas and is claimed to be "the first organization of its kind to focus on the writer’s unique creative contribution to the film and television industries"...
in Texas
Texas
Texas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...
on October 26, 2006.
Accolades
Wins- Clarín AwardsClarín AwardsThe Clarín Entertainment Awards is an award program that have taken place in Argentina since 1998. They are more commonly known as the Clarín Awards....
: Clarin Award; Best Director, Adrián Caetano; Best Film; Best New Actor, Nazareno Casero; Best Original Music, Iván Wyszogrod; Best Screenplay, Adrián Caetano, Esteban Student, and Julian Loyola; Best Supporting Actor, Nazareno Casero; 2006. - Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences of Argentina AwardsAcademy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences of Argentina AwardsThe Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences of Argentina Awards are given by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences of Argentina to honor achievement in Argentine cinema by Argentina-based filmmakers....
: Premios Sur; Best Supporting Actor, Nazareno Casero; Best New Actor, Nazareno Casero; Best Original Music, Iván Wyszogrod, 2006. - Argentine Film Critics Association Awards: Silver Condor, Best Editing, Alberto Ponce; Best Film; Best Adapted Screenplay, Adrián Caetano, Julian Loyola, and Esteban Student; 2007.
Nominations
- Cannes Film Festival2006 Cannes Film FestivalThe 2006 Cannes Film Festival ran from May 17, 2006 to May 28, 2006. Twenty films from eleven countries were in competition for the Palme d'Or. The President of the Official Jury was Wong Kar-wai, the first Chinese director to preside over the jury....
: Golden Palm, Adrián Caetano, 2006. - Independent Spirit AwardsIndependent Spirit AwardsThe Independent Spirit Awards , founded in 1984, are awards dedicated to independent filmmakers. Winners were typically presented with acrylic glass pyramids containing suspended shoestrings representing the paltry budgets of independent films. In 1986, the event was renamed the Independent Spirit...
: Independent Spirit Award Best Foreign Film, Adrián Caetano, Argentina, 2007. - Argentine Film Critics Association Awards: Silver Condor, Best Actor, Rodrigo De la Serna; Best Art Direction, Juan Mario Roust and Jorge Ferrari; Best Cinematography, Julián Apezteguía; Best Director, Adrián Caetano; Best Music, Iván Wyszogrod; Best Sound, Fernando Soldevila; Best Supporting Actor, Nazareno Casero; Best Supporting Actor, Pablo Echarri; 2007.
- Penthouse Film of the Year: Golden Woodie, Adrián Caetano, 2006.
External links
- Crónica de una fuga at the cinenacional.comCinenacional.comCinenacional.com is a web portal and web-based database about Argentine cinema.The site provides a vast array of information, including: films, television programs, directors, actors, cinematographers, film editors, production designers, and other production professions in Argentina...
- Crónica de una fuga review at La Nación by Fernando López
- Crónica de una fuga review at LeerCine by Santiago García