In 1971, while dictator Franco ruled Spain, Argentine filmmakers Fernando “Pino” Solanas and Octavio Gettino regularly visited the residence of former Argentine president Juan Domingo Perón in Puerta de Hierro while he was exiled. The filmmaker’s intention was to clandestinely shoot a documentary on Perón, which would be later screened in Argentina. Throughout six months, Solanas and Gettino smuggled the documentary footage from Madrid to Rome, where the editing was done.
If making the film was no easy task, screening it in Argentina would be an even harder task. Due to multiple political pressures, the documentary never saw the light of day. Even José López Rega, Perón’s own minister of social welfare, conspired against the film — which was left unfinished. But some 40 years later, in the summer of 2012, Solanas decided he would make a new film which would be articulated around the never-before-seen footage from the original project. A tool to understand Perón’s legacy, if you will.
Over the course of three years, the filmmaker and a group of film students shot several new scenes in the country residence of San Vicente, Buenos Aires, which Perón and Evita had built in 1947. With a script in progress, these scenes were then to be intertwined with the original archive footage as well as new one — with both film clips and photographs — all of it glued together by a verbal narration, sometimes via voice over, from Solanas. And so El legado estratégico de Juan Perón was born.
A few minutes into the film, you see one thing is for sure: the original footage featuring fragments of interviews with Perón is as valuable as it is insightful, from his many views on a social and participative democracy, his tireless struggle for political sovereignty and his strategies to overcome “imperialistic manoeuvres” from abroad as well as his Plan Trienal, which included schemes for tax reform, the nationalization of bank deposits, and a strong support of national industry — among other things. And this is just the beginning of a rather comprehensive history lesson on one of Argentina’s most influential political leaders.
And it’s not only that the interviews are interesting because of the information, but also – or most importantly – because of the candid, confident and easygoing portrayal they provide of Perón, the man.
On the other hand, the overall film doesn’t add up to much more than a didactic history lesson with a single viewpoint that never questions the figure of its protagonist. In this sense, it’s openly biased and so it’s up to you whether you buy it or not.
Plus there are some important flaws in the film’s narrative, too. When comparing the impact of the rich original footage with the anecdotic new one, the film loses momentum. Solana’s educational narration, whether via voice-over or not, becomes rather tedious and not quite cinematic after a while. And the scenes depicting the new movie being shot don’t pull much dramatic weight either.
However, if you want to become knowledgeable with a most important period of Argentina and interested in getting more than a glimpse at a such a prominent person as Perón, then El legado estratégico de Juan Perón will certainly do the trick.
production notes
El legado estratégico de Juan Perón (Argentina, 20 16) Written and directed by Fernando E. Solanas. Cinematography: Rino Pravato. Editing: Fernando E. Solanas/Alberto Ponce/Nicolás Sulcic. Sound: Santiago Rodríguez. Running time: 103 minutes.
@pablsuarez
