ROJO

“Rojo” (Argentina, 2018) by Benjamín Naishtat is set in a provincial town in 1975, a few months before the military coup. Claudio, a respected lawyer, is waiting for his wife in a restaurant. A stranger confronts him in front of all the other guests for occupying a table without ordering. Claudio gives up the table but humiliates the man with a speech until he loses his temper and is thrown out. Later that evening the man lies in wait for the couple in the street – and the night ends with an act Claudio keeps to himself. Months later a Chilean television detective turns up in town and starts asking questions.

Naishtat tells of forced disappearance as everyday business, and of the complicity of a middle class that did not merely expect the dictatorship but prepared the ground for it. At the San Sebastián Film Festival the film received the Silver Shells for best director and best actor, Darío Grandinetti, as well as the award for best cinematography, in 2018. It was shown at Around the World in 14 Films in Berlin, in the Berlinale World Cinema Fund section.

Shown at the 2018 edition of Around the World in 14 Films.

All films 2018 · Film Archive