Screening on 21/02/20
Argentina 2018
Dir: Benjamín Naishtat
Starring: Darío Grandinetti, Alfredo Castro, Andrea Frigerio, Diego Cremonesi
Cert 15
109 mins
A pitch-black thriller with political undertones, “Rojo” is set in provincial Argentina on the brink of the 1975 military coup. Small town lawyer Claudio, ostensibly a pillar of the community, reveals a ruthless side to his nature when he is involved in a violent altercation with a stranger in a restaurant. The consequences for Claudio are far-reaching, encompassing the horrific culture of “disappearances” endemic in 1970s Argentina. Claudio and his fellow worthies are shown by their actions, or indeed lack of action, to be complicit in all kinds of murky dealings, shored up by a long-established sense of entitlement. This highly praised film stunningly evokes the moral malaise and sense of menace that pervaded Argentinian society at a dangerous moment in that country’s recent history.
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