“Cautiva” is another Argentine drama about the fallout from the Dirty War, that period in the 1970s and ’80s when the ruling military junta kidnapped, tortured and murdered citizens at will.
Many great stories have been told about The Disappeared, the victims whose fates weren’t learned for years afterward, if ever. And at least one great movie, the Oscar-winning “The Official Story,” has been built around a child of The Disappeared.
But that film focused on an adoptive mother discovering her daughter’s terrible provenance. “Cautiva” comes from the opposite point of view: It’s about a teenage girl whose true past is dropped upon her like a bomb.
The movie, written and directed by Gaston Biraben, is sensitive and deliberate, and fully comprehends what such a shattering revelation would do to an otherwise happy young girl. It’s also dramatically turgid, and perhaps depends too much on audiences being as shocked by its every new disclosure.
Young Barbara Lombardo proves herself a natural film actor as Cristina Quadri (or so she thinks). Doted on by her retired cop (uh oh) father (Osvaldo Santoro) and loving mom (Silvia Bayle), Cristina refuses to believe it when a judge (Hugo Arana) summons her to his chambers and introduces her to Elisa (the late Susana Campos), a grandmother she never knew she had.
Gradually, too gradually, the truth about the girl’s past emerges, and she ricochets between denial and acceptance.
Matters finally liven up, if you can call it that, in the third act. Flashbacks to a heartbreaking birth can’t help but stir tears.
At every step, “Cautiva” is a noble, thoughtful effort. Too bad it’s so often a dull one.
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“Cautiva”
NOT RATED but contains nudity, adult language and a graphic childbirth scene|1 hour, 53 minutes|DRAMA|Written and directed by Gaston Biraben; in Spanish with subtitles; photography by Carlos Torlaschi; starring Barbara Lombardo, Susana Campos, Osvaldo Santoro, Silvia Bayle, Mercedes Funes, Hugo Arana|Opens today at the Starz FilmCenter.
