New Argentine documentary offers a glimpse into the darker history of Ushuaia
Traditionally known as the southernmost city in the world, Ushuaia in Tierra del Fuego used to centre around a prison created in 1904 by the government in order to increase the population as well as to guarantee sovereignty over Tierra del Fuego. What this prison meant to the town is at the core of La cárcel del fin del mundo, an Argentine documentary by Lucía Vasallo that manages to draw a quite good panoramic view of a legendary place on earth.
For starters, this prison became a most infamous home to two kinds of convicts. On the one hand, there were repeat offenders locked away with serious criminals, meaning murderers, thieves and embezzlers. On the other hand, there were the political prisoners, the victims of the many dictatorships that scourged the country. According to their social status, they remained inside the prison or were sheltered outside in small houses, since the city of Ushuaia was considered a prison in itself at the time.
Among the prison’s many famous inmates, there was Mateo Banks, the first Argentine serial killer. Yet perhaps the most infamous one was Cayetano Santos Godino, nicknamed “el Petiso Orejudo,” another serial killer who at the early age of 16 murdered four children, attempted to kill another seven children, and was responsible for the arson of seven buildings.
Regarding the political prisoners, the most notorious was Simón Radowitzky, an 18-year-old Ucranian anarchist who killed Chief of Police Ramón Lorenzo Falcón on May 1, 1909, after he ordered a brutal repression of a mass anarchist protest which left eight people dead and over 40 injured. Other well-known names include Peronist congressman and poet Ricardo Rojas, and politician Honorio Pueyrredón.
The penal colony of Ushuaia was also well known for its cruelty and brutality toward convicts, who were usually tortured, beaten up, and locked up in solitary confinement for several weeks or even months. They were fed very poorly and had to endure the merciless extreme cold of the southernmost city in the world, from the first day they entered the prison to the very last.
It was only in 1947 when the President Juan Domingo Perón shut it down for humanitarian reasons, and so convicts were then transferred to other penitentiaries.
As far as being informative and educational, La cárcel del fin del mundo is a decent document. It does convey the most important facts as well as some details that add different layers to the big picture. It’s well narrated, it has an appealing pace, the testimonies are quite telling — even chilling at times — and its narrative almost never gets off track. But it’s not only didactic as it also conveys some of the atmosphere of the place, as well as a sense of space, as the interviewer and the documentary maker go around what’s left of the prison and stop at key spots. Plus the testimonies from elderly women, the daughters of former prison guards, are as valuable as they are believable. In fact, they come across unexpected findings which add a personal edge to the overall story.
However, considering how rich the material to work with is, La cárcel del fin del mundo is rather at odds when it comes to probing deep into any given aspect of the whole scenario. Many stories are addressed, but none is given a more in-depth analysis as to elicit other meanings than those you can see at first sight. It’s also true that you get to feel a sense of place and mood thanks to its subdued cinematography, and yet it’s not strong enough as to plunge you right into the most obscure shades. It’s as if you were watching the whole thing from the outside, as a witness who is not so much involved with the picture.
As long as you want to be acquainted with a story you didn’t know anything about, then La cárcel del fin del mundo will surely do the trick. That’s its main achievement.
Production notes
La cárcel del fin del mundo (Argentina, 2013). Written and directed by Lucía Vasallo. With: Carlos Pedro Vairo, Margarita Wilder, Julio Canga, Ana Maria Segovia. Cinematography: Guido de Paula. Editing: Meritxell Colell Aparicio. Running time: 67 minutes.
