Chronicle of an Escape (2006)

The goalkeeper of a little-known soccer team is kidnapped by a Argentinean government squad and sent to a detention center. After months of torture, he plots his escape with three other young men.

Director:

Israel Adrián Caetano

Writers:

Israel Adrián Caetano (screenplay), Esteban Student (screenplay)

Stars:

Rodrigo De la Serna, Pablo Echarri, Nazareno Casero

13 wins & 13 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Rodrigo De la Serna	...	Claudio Tamburrini
Pablo Echarri	...	Huguito
Nazareno Casero	...	Guillermo Fernández
Lautaro Delgado	...	El Gallego
Matías Marmorato	...	El Vasco
Martín Urruty	...	El Tano
César Albarracín	...	Guardia Tucumano 2
Diego Alonso Gómez	...	Lucas
Leonardo Bargiga	...	Capitán Almagro
Luis Enrique Caetano	...	Taxista
Alfredo Castellani	...	Entrenador
Andrés Chinello	...	Guardia Lucas 2
Daniel Cúparo	...	Guardia Metódica 3
Guillermo Javier de la Vega	...	Guardia Metódica 2
Daniel Di Biase	...	Padre del Gallego

Storyline

In 1977, the goalkeeper of the Almagro team Claudio Tamburrini is illegally kidnapped from his home, arrested by the government forces and sent blindfolded to Sere Mansion, a clandestine detention center. His acquaintance Tano, who had been tortured for a long period, had falsely accused Claudio of being a revolutionary. Along the months, Claudio is kept nude and handcuffed together with the prisoners El Gallego, El Vasco and Guillermo Fernández and submitted to all sort of humiliations and tortures, until the night they decide to escape from their imprisonment in the old mansion.

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Plot Keywords:

male full frontal nudity | kidnapping | dictatorship | 1970s | the disappeared | 

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Genres:

Crime | Thriller

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for brutality and torture, nudity and language

Did You Know?

Trivia

The man who plays "El Juez" (The Judge) in the scene during which Guillermo is told that he has three days to tell everything he knows is the real-life Guillermo Fernández.

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Goofs

[All goofs for this title are spoilers.]

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Connections

Featured in ¿Qué fue de tu vida?: Rodrigo De la Serna (2011)

User Reviews

A VERY GOOD WATCH !!

This Argentinian movie set in the 1970s presents the real life story of four prisoners who manage a successful escape from their military junta captors during the Dirty War era in Argentina. The Dirty War era was a dark and infamous period in the history of Argentina when the right wing military government was responsible for the disappearance of several thousands - some estimates put the number at about 30,000 - of Argentinians on the pretext that they were suspected left wing terrorists.

This movie retells the real life story of Claudio Tamburrini and three of his fellow prisoners who manage to escape from a secret detention center. Claudio is a goalkeeper in a minor league soccer team and is abducted by the military secret police who suspect him to be a leftist terrorist. Their suspicion is merely based on the questionable testimony of another captive and they swoop down on an unsuspecting Claudio at his residence. Before Claudio could even grapple with the happenings, he is whisked away to a desolate detention center in a suburb where he is held as a blindfolded captive for several months along with others without any due process. The captives are put through a daily rigour of sadistic violence and humiliation in the name of interrogation by their captors who tend to play dangerous mindgames with the hapless captives. This movie is based on the autobiographical account by Claudio with further inputs from his fellow escapee Guillermo who leads their audacious escape on a stormy night.

The focus in the movie is on the daily ordeals faced by the captives and the unflinching cruelty of the thugs of the junta who inflict unspeakable horrors on them. The movie has a dark and foreboding tone throughout to provide a realistic edge to the happenings with just tiny flecks of rooted situational humour and the final act of escape is set as a thriller, albeit, sans any heightened drama. However, the movie does not bother acquainting the viewers with the social context to the unfolding events. Perhaps, this is one reason why there is a sense of something amiss while watching the movie.

Nevertheless, this competently acted movie is successful in presenting a very real account of the chilling, visceral torture meted out to the captives without being overtly gruesome and has a gripping and taut narrative which keeps the viewer tense throughout.

Details

Official Sites:

El Séptimo Arte (Spanish) Official site

Country:

Argentina

Language:

Spanish

Release Date:

27 April 2006 (Argentina)

Also Known As:

Buenos Aires, 1977

Filming Locations:

Buenos Aires, Federal District, Argentina

Box Office

Opening Weekend USA:

$1,307, 2 December 2007

Gross USA:

$2,370

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$763,742

Company Credits

Production Co:

20th Century Fox Argentina, Instituto Nacional de Cine y Artes Audiovisuales (INCAA), K&S Films

Technical Specs

Runtime:

103 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1