Following Antigone: Forensic Anthropology and Human Rights

Upon learning in 1981 that a military junta would be passing through their neck of the woods, all the men of a small group of villages in El Salvador's Morazan Province decided to retreat to safer ground. When they returned, they found 1,000 of their women and children massacred. Although the event was documented in U.S. newspapers (including the New York Times), the United States--due to its ties to the Salvadoran government during their civil war--colluded in denying the massacre. Enter EAAF (also known as the Argentine Forensic Anthropology Team), formed in 1984 to help families of victims find, identify, and bury loved ones, as well as bring evidence of human rights abuse to light. Eventually, the Catholic Church invited EAAF to perform a forensic investigation of the massacre site in Morazan Province after years of cover-ups and various government amnesties, and Following Antigone (the title refers to Sophocles' play Antigone, chronicling one woman's attempt to bury her dead brother in defiance of the king) focuses on this particular investigation, while also touching on other recent investigations in Africa and Haiti instigated by truth commissions, judges, and human rights organizations. In addition to documenting these specific cases, the film details the investigators' methodology, from examining and researching the site and follow-up lab work to presenting results to the families of the victims. As such, the film is also a formidable document of the emotional and psychological impact of human rights work on both victims' families and the EEAF workers themselves. Recommended. Aud: C, P. (A. Cantú)