Raymundo

Filmmakers Ernesto Ardito and Virna Molina's Raymundo focuses on Raymundo Gleyzer, an Argentine documentary filmmaker whose left-wing politics ran afoul of the nation's military rulers. In May 1976, Gleyzer was abducted by paramilitary guerrillas and is believed to be among the tens of thousands arrested, tortured, and executed under the orders of Argentina's government during that gruesome era. Raymundo offers a valuable record on several levels, not the least being an introduction for American viewers to Gleyzer's work—virtually unknown in this country—beginning in 1964, when he started chronicling socioeconomic hardships throughout his country and across Latin America. The film features interviews with family members and excerpts from Gleyzer's diary (read aloud by his son Diego), in which he outlines struggles against governments that often seemed at war with the best interests of their own people, particularly the working poor. Gleyzer's disappearance did not go unnoticed—a petition calling for his release was signed by the likes of Frances Ford Coppola, Jack Nicholson, and Elia Kazan, but the filmmaker was never seen again. The numerous film clips included here offer a fascinating glimpse into socially relevant (and, perhaps, borderline socialist) Latin American documentary filmmaking, and clearly suggests that Gleyzer was an extraordinary talent whose canon warrants rediscovery. Highly recommended. Aud: C, P. (P. Hall)