ShangLuda Admirable film.

Twilightfa Watch something else. There are very few redeeming qualities to this film.

Ogosmith Each character in this movie — down to the smallest one — is an individual rather than a type, prone to spontaneous changes of mood and sometimes amusing outbursts of pettiness or ill humor.

Allissa .Like the great film, it's made with a great deal of visible affection both in front of and behind the camera.

Jackson Booth-Millard I found this Argentinian (Spanish language) film in the book 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die, the title did not suggest anything particular to me, but the Academy Award win, plot description and of course the recommendation was enough for me to try it. Basically the period known as the Dirty War has concluded, in Buenos Aires lives high school history professor and well-to-do housewife Alicia Marnet de Ibáñez (Norma Aleandro) who is happily married to government agent and successful lawyer husband Roberto (Héctor Alterio), and together they have adopted daughter Gaby (Analia Castro). It is on the daughter's fifth birthday that Alicia becomes curious to know about Gaby's real parents, but her husband avoids the topic and tells her to ignore it, he obviously knows the official story of how their daughter came to be available for adoption. Alicia's longtime friend Ana (Chunchuna Villafañe) returns from exile, she explains how she was tortured and being held for having lived with a man labelled as subversive, and she tells of seeing children taken from their parents who are put in jail, Alicia wonders if Gaby's parents went through this also. Alicia searches for birth and heritage records of Gaby at a hospital, there she learns of an organisation searching for missing children, a woman there, Sara (Chela Ruíz), claims to recognise Gaby as her granddaughter, and says that her parents disappeared. Like other members of the Argentine upper class Alicia is not aware of a lot of killing and suffering has gone on in the country, her views are challenged by fellow teacher Benitez (Patricio Contreras) and some of the students, she does report a student, but Benitez protects him, the two teachers do eventually become friendly as Alicia's research comes together. Roberto meanwhile is stressing at work, with many of his colleagues disappearing, he is also confronted by Ana who she blames partly for her arrest, and he comes to blows with his liberal father and brother, and he is furious when Alicia brings Sara home to meet him. That evening Alicia surprises Roberto, telling him that Gaby is not home and saying "how does it feel not knowing where your child is?", she does tell him Gaby is at his mother's house, he becomes enraged and assaults her, this stops when the phone rings, it is Gaby singing a nursery rhyme to Roberto, Alicia meanwhile gets her purse and leaves her key as she walks out, the final shot is Gaby continuing to sing, whilst with her adopted grandparents. I will be honest that occasionally whilst watching this film I found it a little tricky to keep up with, probably because of the subtitles reading, I dozed at one point and had to rewind back, thankfully I did get the concept, I can see why it rated well and won the awards it did, it is an interesting story based on parenthood, with a mix of trust issues, politics and human rights, a watchable drama film. It won the Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film, and it was nominated for Best Writing, Screenplay Written Directly for the Screen, and it won the Golden Globe for Best Foreign Film. Good!

CountZero313 Alicia is a bit of an oddbod, a History teacher who seems ignorant of her own nation's past. The reasons for this state of denial slowly reveal themselves, centering on her adopted daughter Gaby, and the wider search for truth and justice for the missing victims of Argentina's military juntas. Alicia's husband Roberto is to some degree complicit with the regime, though quite to what degree is not revealed until almost the very last frame of the film.The Official Story has a subtle but complex narrative. We go along thinking Alicia's quest is to find the origins of her adopted daughter. However, her quest is much more fundamental, to do with the nature of her marriage and her husband's character. The answer, when it comes, is unequivocal.The slow-drip feed of the plot and fine performances from Héctor Alterio as Roberto and Norma Aleandro as Alicia make this compelling viewing. Events centre around one particularly ugly period in Argentinian history, but the message of human endurance, and potential for brutality, is timeless. A small masterpiece.

NICO "La Historia Oficial" is a movie which certainly reaches out to the hearts and minds of most Argentines. First of all, the main issue which is the cause for the problems which arise in the household of Alicia and Roberto, is one with which the older generation of Argentines has had to deal with in their own lives. Moreover, the reality and discomfort which is seen in various instances during the movie can easily be a picture of what was going on in countless households during that time period. In the movie we see some of what is going on in the government a little bit by the actual protests, but mostly by the situations which surround Alicia. The story of Alicia's friend Ana and the circumstances involving her daughter all point to great distress in the country's government. Whilst the government has much to do with the movie, the story revolves more around the impact which the government has on a simple Argentine family and their relationships with each other.

Alfia Wallace La Historia Official is a well-made film about awakening from passive complicity in evil, in this case, forced adoption. The Grandmothers of the Plaza de Mayo were and are an inspiration to those who struggle to uncover and resist abuses in adoption practices, be they the enslaved Irish women of the Magdalen laundries or the many indigenous peoples who had children forcibly removed from homes to be adopted by whites. Most of adoption does not involve abduction, but to turn a blind eye to the fact that it does exist, is to be passively complicit, as was the protagonist in this film.The scene in which the teacher realizes that tremendous evil has indeed been perpetrated, and that she may very well be the beneficiary of such evil, is staggering. Norma Aleandro is a talented enough actress that we believe her initial rejection of this revelation, and her gradual evolution from passive cohort to courageous seeker of the truth.