Vicenta is a middle-aged woman living in Argentina. She has two daughters. The elder daughter lives with her husband, but 19-year-old Laura has a developmental delay that keeps her from caring for herself. Vicenta loves her daughter and doesn’t begrudge Laura; still, she wishes things were different, and that she could retire. One day, after a prolonged stomach ache puts Laura in the hospital, it’s found that the young woman is pregnant. Worse still, the one who impregnated her is her uncle.
Armed with this evidence, Vicenta and her two daughters face Argentina's social welfare and justice system thinking that sitting with a social worker and a judge is all they’ll need to begin the abortion process. The judge shocks them with her ruling: Laura should have the baby and put it up for adoption. Unsatisfied with the judge’s ruling and driven to protect her developmentally disabled daughter from the undue suffering she would face in carrying the child to term, Vicenta leads a charge to get her child the care she so desperately needs.
Vicenta is nothing else if not an intriguing filmmaking experiment. Instead of video or archival footage set with descriptive dialogue, we are given a dramatization in dioramas with expressively sculpted clay figures representing the story’s leading players. Anyone interested in experimental filmmaking or still-life in film will enjoy this documentary. It has an air like La Jetée, the film which inspired 12 Monkeys; stillness given motion by moving narration and intriguing camerawork.
Artistic praise aside, Vicenta is an interesting documentary if somewhat lacking. Laura’s story told through the eyes of her mother is compelling. We are given a front-row seat to the ableism and sexism of Argentina's medical system. The film does lack a certain informative quality, never really rising past infotainment. While I could see film students learning a lot from the use of dioramas and creative camerawork, I can’t see many other uses for Vicenta in the classroom. Recommended.
Where does this film belong on public library shelves?
Vicenta would fit best in art film, documentary, and women’s studies shelves.
What type of college instructor would use this film?
Professors of film and cinematography would get the most use out of Vicenta in the classroom.
What is the retail price and/or Public Performance License fee?
Perpetual DSL: $549, 3-year DSL: $449, K-12, Public Libraries, Community Groups, 3-year DSL: $200