Within the genocide perpetrated during the 1976-1983 military dictatorship, the Argentine Armed Forces carried out a systematic plan for the appropriation of minors, which pivoted on the implementation of improvised maternity wards inside clandestine detention centres. With barely the minimum medical assistance and facilities — and sometimes not even that — hundreds of babies were born and then illegally adopted by couples connected with the military. In this way, the babies’ true identity was erased and, in turn, the kidnapped mothers were disappeared. For they were no longer necessary: the war booty had already been snatched.
The unflinching Argentine documentary La parte por el todo, written and directed by Gato Martínez Cantó, Santiago Nacif Cabrera and Roberto Persano, focuses on the stories of two grown-up men and one woman who, not that long ago, recovered their true identity. Like so many others, they were too snatched at birth and never met their parents. And today they speak-up to give their valuable testimonies and keep memory alive. This assured documentary mainly aims at raising awareness and making visible that which once was invisible. The dark stories of the past now turn into luminous experiences as the film’s protagonists share what they know, think and feel with courage and humbleness.
Through these individual stories, Martínez Cantó, Cabrera and Persano deftly paint a canvas of larger dimensions, as is usually the case with this type of documentaries. It’s not only the particular case what matters, but also the universal. So the narrative smoothly switches back and forth between the two poles and such overlapping provides new angles to examine the whole scenario.
Unlike so many other similar documentaries, La parte por el todo maintains a calm, reflexive tone from beginning to end and never becomes a belligerent piece of agit-prop. Though painful and harrowing, it doesn’t want to depress viewers and it never wallows in the pain it portrays. Think that some of the most anguishing scenes take place inside the real places where the infamous child birth and kidnappings took place. In addition, there are also fragments of the trials to the military, in which you can feel the ominous reality of it all. And no blows below the belt and no sentimentalism truly pay off for they stimulate viewers to think deeply about what they’re seeing instead of just experiencing a liberating catharsis.
On the downside, La parte por el todo could have been more cinematic, meaning it could have taken advantage of the expressive quality of editing, cinematography and sound to create a personal set of aesthetics and to not rely so much on the spoken word or in conventionally predetermined molds. It could have gone some extra miles in search of a personal sense of style. But it’s also true that drawings and graphics used to illustrate parts of the stories are an asset and that what matters the most, that is to say the people’s stories, is effectively conveyed.
Production notes
La parte por el todo. Argentina, 2015. Written and directed by Gato Martínez Cantó , Santiago Nacif Cabrera, Roberto Persano. Cinematography: Emiliano Penelas. Editing: Omar Neri. Sound: Lucho Corti. Music: Teresa Parodi. Musical score and arrangements: Nora Sarmoria. Drawings and graphic design: Maxi Bearzi. Produced by Martínez Cantó - Nacif Cabrera – Persano. Running time: 72 minutes. Limited release.
