Id say 4/10 is a generous rating for this one. The subject the movie is based on is a very serious one, and most importantly, something that no one ever talks about.
Around the 70s most Latin American countries turned to socialism/Marxism governments, but by the time it was 1975 all of the same countries were under a harsh right-wing dictatorship supported by the U.S., in cases like in Chile or Brazil, the U.S. spend millions to overthrown socialist governments. It was the middle of the cold war and the battlefield was third world countries, for us Latin-Americans, we only get one side of the story, and usually is the American side.
The best weapon of any harsh dictatorship has always been to suppress anyone who speaks against it. It happens in Cuba with dissidents, it happens in Middle East with "infidels", it happens in Asia with communist regimes and those who want to turn them into democracies, it happened in Nazi Germany and it happened in Latin America as well.
Imagining Argentina is about that, is about people who "disappear" and about the government who then lies shamelessly about it. Its a great material for any movie, yet its just so poorly treated on this movie.
Banderas is a man who lost his wife, and suddenly gains the mysterious psychic power of miss Cleo and can see what happened to people who disappeared, so he makes up a support group on Thursdays to share his talents with others like him (who have also lost a loved one). The directing is amateurish as the acting of the thing, we see talented and gifted actors like Thompson, Blades and Banderas acting very woodenly (specially Thompson), to top that the soundtrack is very generic; if there is a sad scene, guitar will do it, if there's an even sadder scene, violins will do then.
One thing to reckon to this type of movies that seem to come straight out of "Amnesty International Films", is that they WILL educate you about what is wrong with the world and that you haven't seen (such as the current genocide in Sudan for example, which although takes the life of 10000 people every month, is still labeled as a "clan war" by U.S. media), yet devices, tricks and metaphors are usually used to accomplish that, yet none of that is used on this movie and when it is, you bet your first born you've seen it before in "Schindler's List". There was a tremendous opportunity on this movie, yet a crappy production and a even crappier direction ruined that. I wouldn't recommend this one, these are serious issues that should be taken seriously, not with psychic powers...
Around the 70s most Latin American countries turned to socialism/Marxism governments, but by the time it was 1975 all of the same countries were under a harsh right-wing dictatorship supported by the U.S., in cases like in Chile or Brazil, the U.S. spend millions to overthrown socialist governments. It was the middle of the cold war and the battlefield was third world countries, for us Latin-Americans, we only get one side of the story, and usually is the American side.
The best weapon of any harsh dictatorship has always been to suppress anyone who speaks against it. It happens in Cuba with dissidents, it happens in Middle East with "infidels", it happens in Asia with communist regimes and those who want to turn them into democracies, it happened in Nazi Germany and it happened in Latin America as well.
Imagining Argentina is about that, is about people who "disappear" and about the government who then lies shamelessly about it. Its a great material for any movie, yet its just so poorly treated on this movie.
Banderas is a man who lost his wife, and suddenly gains the mysterious psychic power of miss Cleo and can see what happened to people who disappeared, so he makes up a support group on Thursdays to share his talents with others like him (who have also lost a loved one). The directing is amateurish as the acting of the thing, we see talented and gifted actors like Thompson, Blades and Banderas acting very woodenly (specially Thompson), to top that the soundtrack is very generic; if there is a sad scene, guitar will do it, if there's an even sadder scene, violins will do then.
One thing to reckon to this type of movies that seem to come straight out of "Amnesty International Films", is that they WILL educate you about what is wrong with the world and that you haven't seen (such as the current genocide in Sudan for example, which although takes the life of 10000 people every month, is still labeled as a "clan war" by U.S. media), yet devices, tricks and metaphors are usually used to accomplish that, yet none of that is used on this movie and when it is, you bet your first born you've seen it before in "Schindler's List". There was a tremendous opportunity on this movie, yet a crappy production and a even crappier direction ruined that. I wouldn't recommend this one, these are serious issues that should be taken seriously, not with psychic powers...