Our Disappeared/Nuestros desaparecidos (2008)

"Our Disappeared"/"Nuestros Desaparecidos" is director Juan Mandelbaum's personal search for the souls of friends and loved ones who were caught in the vise of the military and "disappeared" in his native Argentina during the 1976-1983 military dictatorship. The film is a personal journey into the past to reflect on the political and personal contexts that led so many young people to fight for a more just Argentina. After finding out that Patricia, a long lost girlfriend, is among the "desaparecidos" Mandelbaum returns to Argentina to find out what happened to her and others he knew who also disappeared. As he revisits the dreams they shared for a revolution that would transform Argentina he grieves the tragic losses and examines his own choices: not signing up with any of the radical groups at his university and leaving Argentina in 1977 at the height of the repression, to escape the pervasive climate of fear. Using extraordinary archival footage, Mandelbaum brings the energy and tension of the time and place to life. In this return voyage to Argentina's past Mandelbaum learns much about his friends' tragic stories, and about his own. Now we can hear from three generations affected by the state of terror, and the passage of time allows for deeper reflections. Thirty years after the military coup Mandelbaum explores what happens when brutal regimes attack the fabric of a country with great impunity, causing enormous suffering that lasts for generations. The pain that seemed so distant is still very much present.