The Disappeared

The emotional carnage resulting from Argentina's internecine “Dirty War” (1976–1983), during which as many as 30,000 people simply disappeared, is the subject of Peter Sanders' disturbing documentary chronicling one man's quest to discover the truth about his parents' fate, as well as his own identity. Cesar Castillo, who grew up sensing that he was not the biological offspring of his parents, takes a DNA identity test and finds that his suspicions were correct. Investigating further, Cesar learns that he is really Horacio Pietragalla, the child of two political militants arrested and executed by the Argentine junta. Even more startling is the eventual realization that his adoptive mother was the maid of the military officer who ordered his parents' deaths. Sanders and Pietragalla (who jettisons his Castillo identity) together track down the latter's long-lost surviving blood relatives and also speak with some of the individuals responsible for his family's fate and other war crimes. The on-camera conversation between Pietragalla and his adoptive parents is a genuinely heartbreaking experience, and while it may not bring the full level of catharsis that Pietragalla (and, by extension, Argentina itself) still needs, at least this effort moves a step closer to answering still-lingering questions about this atrocious chapter in modern Argentine history. A raw and powerful work of nonfiction cinema, this is highly recommended. Aud: C, P. (P. Hall)