When Orfeo bought his wife back from the underworld
He was told he must not look back at her whatever happened.
Orfeo!
But at last he could not resist...
the sound of her voice calling his name.
Turned back and so lost her forever.
They say that they are subversives. Let them show their faces and say why.
My son was not subversive. He worked and studied, That's what he did...
When the military dictatorship fell in 1983 here in Argentina...
We were told that we should never look back.
Yes, there was injustice.
Yes, mistakes were made.
But if we looked back the pain would never end.
The wounds would never heal.
The Generals had already changed the meaning of the words to disappear.
For them things disappeared, people disappeared...
But they spoke of disappearing people.
Disappearing their enemies.
They had changed the language...
and now they wanted to disappear the past.
They told us we must never look back.
But we have to look back.
It is our sacred duty to look back.
If they're ill, If they're cold, If they're hungry. We don't know anything.
And we are desperate sir, we don't know who to ask.
Consulates, Embassies, Ministeries, Churches...
All doors are closed to us
This is why we beg you, we beg you
You are our last hope
Please help us, Help us, Please...
You are our last hope
Carlos!
I'm sorry.
Sorry. Let's go from the top.
I'll see you Silvio.
Bye bye Carlos. Hey, what time is the call tomorrow?
Ten. See you tomorrow.
Bring it down two.
Cecilia.
Cecilia?
What's the matter?
Where's Mama?
You say she's been receiving threatening phone calls?
Two, Yes
Did you report them?
No, no.
Perhaps she left of her own free will.
Have you quarelled recently?
No, I told you. Pedro saw 3 men taking her away.
Yes, in a green Ford Falcon.
Did you get the plate number?
There were no plates.
Are you sure about this?
I think so.
You think so.
I hope you don't believe all that crap about people disappearing
Just propaganda, you know.
Well this article of my wife's is about people disappearing.
Perhaps she's just trying to prove her point.
And you're a writer also, are you?
Yes, I am a writer.
Don't worry.
We'll find your wife.
If she's to be found.
You are very stubborn. I don't see the point of it.
They are frightened, Silvio. That's the point.
It's just going to cause trouble. Why are you doing this?
Because our government has managed
somehow to invent a new kind of infamy.
What... what do you mean?
Okay, somebody just disappears and they say
Oh my god how terrible, we're doing everything we can.
And you know and they know, they ordered the arrest.
Well you know, politics is like dogshit. You don't want to step in it!
No, no, I don't feel that way at all.
You see, I agree with every word you say in this piece...
I still don't think you should publish it.
Carlos, why not?
It's just too provocative.
Carlos, these were school children protesting about bus fares.
About bus fares! Vanished without a trace.
Will this bring them back?
But that's not the point.
But what is the point?
Somebody has to say something.
All I am saying is... around that corner in the Casa Rosada
is a gang of insane paranoics...
who that think Gerald Ford is a member of the
International Communist Conspiracy.
Cecilia you are acting on the assumption they are rational.
They are not. They're mad dogs. They bite.
Hey, Ruben.
Silvio.
Hello Ruben. How are you doin'?
There's some kind of demonstration going on in the Plaza.
Really?
Old women in headscarves.
How's your movie?
Same old crap.
Well, I'm going to have a look.
Me too.
Are you coming?
No.
Goodbye.
Back in 10 minutes.
Watch out for dog shit.
Let's go, Let' go, everybody out Let's all get out
There were rumours this was going to happen.
Who are they?
The mothers of the disappeared.
If those mothers in the square aren't afraid
Shouldn't I have the courage to tell the truth?
But it's different for them.
Why? What do you mean?
For them the disaster has already happened.
And it wasn't something they provoked themselves, was it?
Next thing, you'll be saying they're a lot of trouble makers...
who probably deserve to be disappeared.
No. You know
that's not what I meant! But this is what...
Hey, can we talk about something else please?
Listen, those school children who complained
about the bus fares were Teresa's age.
Suppose it had happened to Teresa?
Suppose what had happened to me?
You're not thinking what you're saying. Let's eat.
Are you trying to tell me I'm not allowed
to talk about these things in my own home?
Suppose what had happened to me?
Nothing. You know what she's like when she gets like that.
You are right.
Of course.
You are right.
Yes.
All the same, I felt I had to...
I don't know. Say something...
Carlos...
I love you.
Teresa?
I couldn't sleep.
Mind if I sit with you?
I should have stopped her writing those things.
How could you have stopped her?
It's what she does.
Come here.
Excuse me just a second.
Have you seen this woman...
She disappeared 8 weeks ago?
No, no.
Sir, have you seen this woman?
They were not the guilty ones.
Now, Now we presume the unthinkable.
We want to see them alive and punish the guilty.
How did it go?
All right.
Well... 2nd act was a little sluggish.
Sorry I missed it.
You would have been of more use here
instead of wandering around in the rain.
What's Enrico doing?
He's waiting to see you.
You have a problem.
What is it, Enrico?
You have to release me from the play.
I don't come anymore.
Why?
I don't want to talk about it.
They have taken your father.
Who told you? I Nobody told me.
But... you tell me what happened.
They broke into the apartment at 3 o'clock in the morning.
Yes, yes...
Tonight, they will arrive in his cell. 3 of them.
One of the men, a colonel, will tell your father...
to be more careful about what he says to his students.
He will make him admit that a professor is
not capable of understanding the government's intention.
He will ask him to promise never,
never to criticise the government again.
Your father will promise.
Later, tonight, they will release him.
And drive him back close to where you live.
Believe me.
Carlos? Are you alright?
I don't know.
I told Enrico his father would be released tonight.
You did what?
Why did you do that?
I know you are going through hard times, Carlos, but...
I couldn't stop myself, Esme.
It was like a hallucination, like I have seen...
The whole thing in a movie.
It was like I was watching...
Like I was remembering...
the future.
No, no no, I asked you.
You didn't! Yes...
My God, I can't believe
you've forgotten this. I asked you.
Impossible, Impossible. How?
I said will you marry me, you fool.
No, I mean how did it arise?
How could I have left that sacred task in your hands?
It arose out of me explaining why I wanted to be a journalist.
You can't remember?
I said I wanted to be a journalist so I could ask difficult questions.
And you said, ask me a difficult question then.
And I said, will you marry me?
No? It's so typical that you can't remember. It's so hurtful.
So, what did I say?
You went bright red and made a puffing noise like a train.
And that was all?
No. You kissed me.
That was the best kiss I ever had.
It happened, it happened, Senor Rueda, exactly what you said.
The colonel, everything.
Thank you, thank you.
I'm very pleased.
Listen, Enrico.
Go downstairs and I'll see you in a minute.
Yeah.
It was probably a coincidence.
No.
We want to see them alive and punish the guilty. Now. Now.
We are assuming the unthinkable
We want to see them alive. And punish the guilty.
Please come this evening.
I may be able to help you.
Thanks to all of you...
For coming here to my house.
I don't know how to explain this to you... because...
because I don't know how to explain it to myself.
All I can say is...
That I may be able to help some of you
whose loved ones have disappeared...
with information.
I need their names
and the circumstances of the disappearance.
And if I fail, I will have to ask you to forgive me.
But we have nothing...
so it seemed worth the attempt.
My grandson's name is Octavio Marquez. He's an athlete.
They took him last month from the stadium.
He's not interested in politics.
I'm sorry. It's not working.
Senor Rueda.
It's just not working.
I'm sorry.
My son.
My son's name is Victor Madrid.
He's 15 years old.
Sometimes he says stupid things
about subjects he doesn't understand.
And last Friday he didn't come home from school.
Victor Madrid?
Yes, they picked him up at the school gates.
They drove him out into the pampas.
They took him to a place they often use.
They were preparing to kill him.
No, no, no, no
He's gone!
Because it was a known killing ground
it was being watched.
And Victor was rescued.
He's still in hiding, but soon...
he will find a way to get a message to you.
Yes.
Senor.
My daughter is called Julia Obregon.
She is a social worker.
They took her from her office 3 weeks ago.
I'm sorry...
I'll tell you later, if you want...
any detail that you need to know.
My mother's name is Cecilia Rueda.
They took her from this house on May 23rd.
My father came home from the theatre and she was gone.
Your hands.
Teresa... she's strong.
She's so strong.
The way she fights them is by never...
letting go of the idea of escape.
And last night...
Last night, she succeeded.
Jump, jump.
Run, run.
Run, run. Go go, go, go, go.
Yes
Run, run.
Yes.
Carlos.
I have lost her.
No, no.
You fainted.
Are you alright?
I'm sorry.
Maybe I shouldn't have asked you.
You were right.
It was the right thing to do.
But I lost her.
Why did I lose her?
You're very tired.
Say it Silvio. Say it.
It isn't right, Carlos.
Even if what you say is true, it still isn't right.
And I don't see how it can be true.
It is true. Don't ask me how I know, I just do.
It's not rational.
You have only ever believed in what is rational.
I have to believe in this because it's happening.
This is absurd.
Oh, Silvio. I don't have the energy to quarrel with you...
just please... go.
Are you coming?
I'll stay a while.
A foghorn.
What?
I heard a foghorn.
They must be keeping her somewhere near the docks.
I'm alright, just get some water.
I knew she'd been there.
I could feel her in that room.
Keep still.
Why did the trail go cold?
Why should I be able to trace complete
strangers and not find my own wife?
Why is that?
You should get some sleep.
Teresa. You get ready for school. I'll look after your father.
No, no, no. I'd better go into the theatre.
Don't even think about it.
You go, Esme. I'll stay home and take care of him.
Well, I...
I guess we should do as we are told.
This gift, Teresa...
Maybe I'm not supposed to spend it on myself.
You'll find Mama.
I know you will.
I don't think I could get through this without you.
My baby.
They took them alive, We want them back alive.
He's still alive.
Thank you very much.
Now that the number of disappearances...
recorded by our organization exceeds 2000.
We feel it essential to register the following demands
Your wife?
1. We require a full list of detainees
- Together with details of any charges - My sister.
Which may have been made against them...
Or a firm date for their release.
I don't know if I can go on living without Marta.
- 2. We must be allowed visiting rights. - Do you know about my garden?
I've been trying to find the courage to come.
I want to read you a draft of our petition to General Guzman
Well, I'll expect you next Thursday.
I just want to thank you all
for allowing me to grieve with you...
and giving me hope.
And something else I never had before the courage.
The courage to stand up for myself.
Excuse me sir, what is this?
I'm gonna get one of those shits.
Wait! Hey, hey, hey.
Let me go! Let me go!
No, no, no, no.
General Guzman is a very busy man.
But nevertheless I would like you to tell him
that Carlos Rueda wishes to see him, please.
A man called Carlos Rueda wants to know
if the minister will see him.
What can I do for you?
I'm here to protest the arbitrary arrest of 9 women
Including 2 nuns from the Church of the Holy Cross.
Do sit down.
When was this alleged occurrence?
This morning. I was there.
Well it's too soon to expect me to know anything about it.
I've never claimed to be omniscient.
Nuns, you say?
Yes. I have all the names.
Thank you.
I will look into it myself.
Now, I understand you run a theatre for children.
Yes, yes
I say I understand, in fact I know.
My nephew was once in one of your plays. I saw it.
I don't remember what it was about...
but it was most enjoyable.
My wife has disappeared.
How terrible? I can appreciate your concern.
What is her name?
Cecilia. Cecilia Rueda. A journalist.
No. There is no one of that name.
She was arrested.
Why? Is she a terrorist? Has she committed a crime?
No. She's not a terrorist.
There are leftist groups who are kidnapping
and even killing people to make us look bad.
They don't care what they do.
What happened to your arm?
I was bitten by a dog.
What a colourful life you lead.
What do you think when you see those mothers in the square?
Even animals have mothers.
Well they want their children back.
And I want my wife back.
Naturally I am very concerned about your wife.
I've made a note to investigate the matter personally.
In the meantime I think you should get back to your theatre.
I can't say I like the sound of your new act.
What new act?
The clairvoyance. The conjuring tricks.
If you dislike my new act, it's because it's a sign of
something you cannot kill...
Something you do not possess...
Something which will eventually destroy you.
And what is that?
Imagination.
Cecilia!
Cecilia Help. Help.
Cecilia.
You were crying.
Now I'm alright. I'm alright. It was just a dream.
Hold on.
Mind your feet.
Don't worry, hey Don't worry.
They're just trying to intimidate us.
Alright. That's all.
Eh, are you okay?
Yeah. Go and get dressed.
I think we should get out of here.
I'm sorry, Esme.
I hope I didn't scare you.
Come in. Come in.
I don't think it's safe for her in the house any more.
You can stay here as long as you like.
Both of you.
Thank you. Thank you.
So you're going to drive out to the pampas
because you had a dream about an owl?
I have to trust the signs, Silvio.
I don't know what else I can do.
I don't know.
The theatre is not a business that runs by itself, you know.
Unless you want to do your Thursday evening shows here
and charge admission.
Listen, we'll run things here.
You go find your owl.
I'll find something.
I don't know what, but I know I'll find something.
Welcome to La Esperanza.
My name is Amos Sternberg.
This is my wife, Sara.
Carlos Rueda.
What brings you here?
I am looking for my wife.
It will take some time to explain.
Yes.
I'm sorry to bring such horrors to a place like this.
What if you never find her, Carlos?
I will find her.
That is a conviction, or a hope?
I make no distinction between the two.
Stay to dinner. Stay the night.
Thank you.
Thanks.
She prefers to eat on her own when we have guests.
Which by the way is hardly ever.
Is she your daughter?
No.
She's the daughter of old friends of ours.
We were all together in Auschwitz.
She's very shy, you see.
She cannot speak.
She asked an SS man for a drink of water one day.
So he cut out her tongue with his bayonet.
Now can you see why we understand what you were telling us?
What made you choose to come to Argentina?
This estancia has been in my family for over a hundred years.
We have a son here.
We sent him over to Amos's cousin
in the thirties when he was quite small.
Because we saw the way things were going in Germany.
We were going to leave ourselves, but we left it too late.
He's a silversmith. He has a shop in La Boca.
You must go and see him when you get back to Buenos Aires.
Thank you. I will.
My cousin died in the forties and the estancia came to us.
People say to us, how can you bear
to live out there, lost in the pampas?
But I say I like to see as far as
I can in every direction nowadays.
Why all the birds?
There used to be these birds at Auschwitz.
Non-descript little brown birds, like our finches.
They came every morning and sat on the wire.
And reminded us of freedom.
Then the Nazis electrified the wire:
And for a whole summer's day,
to the great amusement of the guards
The birds turned into vivid spurts of flame.
After a day, they never returned.
When we arrived in Buenos Aires,
we went to La Boca, to the market...
bought every bird that was for sale
and ferried them down here.
For us they contain the souls of all our friends
who did not come back from the camps.
How can anybody survive that?
If you live in a nightmare,
you have to try to re-imagine it.
That's why your stories are so important.
They may be keeping her alive.
Go on telling your stories.
Celia?
Cecilia.
Then I lost track of her.
It wasn't like last time at the warehouse.
The trail went cold.
But this time I didn't feel so desperate.
I knew she was somewhere close.
But I also knew I would never be able to find her.
Because for some reason I can't understand...
my instinct is telling me, that she has to find me.
All yours.
No, I'll take her back.
You don't know what you're missing.
I'm just trying to help you.
Too late for help wouldn't you say?
Well don't think I like what goes on here.
Then why be part of it?
It's my job. I've always been a prison guard. Like my father.
I imagine the job must have changed
a lot in the last few years, hasn't it?
Yes, out of all recognition.
Well, then.
I have children. I need to work.
I'm sure, if you really wanted to,
you could find something else to do.
Exercise time.
I don't want to go.
Why?
Let me stay in.
Alright. I'll tell them you are not well.
Yes.
Yeah, but... what are you doing?
Remembering.
Oh, I see.
Not the past. I don't mean the past.
This. I'm remembering all of this.
Every detail.
It mustn't ever be forgotten.
Gustavo.
Go ahead.
My sister Marta worked in General Guzman's secretariat.
One day she was alone in his office
and she found something on his desk.
I don't know what it was because
she was too frightened to tell me.
Guzman walked in and saw what she was reading.
He hit her and fired her on the spot.
That same evening they took her from her apartment.
Please help me.
I know you can find her for me.
I can't see Marta very clearly yet.
There is something else.
It is Guzman I can see.
Guzman who believes his fatherland is in danger.
And that it is his sacred duty to protect it.
It's unusual for me to see the oppressors rather than the victims.
Have you ever been an actor, Gustavo?
No.
You have never been in my theatre?
Never. Does this...?
I think I can see Marta now.
She's a tiny blonde girl, isn't she?
So slight, you'd think they would break her in half.
That's right.
Why do you suppose Guzman is so
frightened of tiny girls like Marta?
Well, as she was waiting in the basement
at the Naval Mechanics School...
something extraordinary happened to Marta.
She recognised the young officer who was supervising her torture.
And realised she was a figment of his imagination.
And the officer was you, Gustavo.
You have no sister.
You're here as a spy.
I... I thought you were supposed to help us.
We are all victims here, you know.
How can you just say a thing like that.
You have a tape recorder underneath your shirt.
If I am wrong, I will apologize.
I can explain.
Murderer! Murderer!
No, no, no, no!
Leave it! Sit! Not in my house.
No stop it, stop it!
This is a message to you General Guzman
We are not subversives.
We want the return of our families.
And you have our sympathies.
It must be strenuous to be so full of hatred and suspicion.
Go!
He's laughing.
Wait, wait.
Hold it, hold it.
Who is next?
We ought to have killed that bastard this evening.
No, Sylvio, no.
Am I crazy to feel a little better tonight?
Can I stay here tonight?
No, you should go back to Esme's.
Papa, please let me stay. Just for tonight.
Okay. Come here. Come here.
Papa, Papa. Let me go!
Teresa!
No, Papa, Papa.
Teresa!
No!
Please, please.
Someone please help me, please. Papa!
Take me, take me.
No, please.
It was all my fault.
What, what did you say?
It was my fault. It was all my fault.
Carlos, once they decided to take her...
it wouldn't have been hard for them to find her.
At school, at my place, wherever she was.
Teresa.
Mama! Mama!
Up! Come on, quickly. Not you.
Just the fresh meat this time.
Alright.
We work here by a very simple principle.
If you know something, sing.
If not...
Suffer.
First thing is for you and me to get to know each other.
Senor Rueda! Senor Rueda!
No, it's okay. I know this man.
How are you?
He's taking you for a walk? Goodnight.
Oh, my lovely girl. How are you, darling?
It's so good to see you.
How was your day?
Teresa.
Cecilia.
Teresa. Cecilia.
Teresa. Cecilia. Teresa Cecilia
They'll close us down. I know it.
Why do you insist on courting disaster?
I agree with Carlos.
You do? What a surprise.
What's the matter?
Maybe you're right.
Oh, please. Stop agreeing with me
or I would not know where I am.
Right, it's very important today.
Okay?
There they are coming into the 3rd row.
Well, I'd be worried if they hadn't send anybody.
Do you think they'll notice.
Break a leg!
Alright, places.
Good luck.
Red Death had long devastated the country.
No pestilence had ever been so fatal or so hideous.
Scarlet stains upon the body and face of the victim
Shut him out from the aid and sympathy of his fellow men.
But the Prince Prospero was happy.
He summoned to his presence a thousand light-hearted friends...
and retired to one of his castellated abbeys.
Towards the 5 or 6 month of his seclusion...
While the pestilence raged most furiously abroad...
Prince Prospero entertained his thousand friends...
At a masked ball of the most unusual magnificence.
Who are you?
Seize that man.
Silvio?
They've taken Silvio.
I told them.
I said there must be some mistake.
That he is not interested in politics
but it was his name on the list.
Why didn't they take me?
I wanted them to take me. Motherfuckers!
Fuck! Shit!
Carlos, they've closed us down.
In the interest of public morals, they've closed us down.
I will have to see if they'll give me back my old job.
What will you do?
I'll find something.
I have known him since I was a child.
We were lovers for a while.
3 or 4 years ago.
I know.
Can you see what happened to him?
Ask me tonight in the garden.
I have a colleague called Silvio Ayala.
He's the technical director of the children's theatre.
They came today
and they took him from his office.
They are holding Silvio in the basement
of the Naval Mechanics School.
They have blindfolded him for no reason...
Except to disorient him and increase his fear.
He has already decided to say whatever it is they want to hear.
To denounce everybody, anything to stop the pain.
It will be more than a week
before they take him along...
to the room at the end of the corridor.
And in that time a strange thing
will happen to Silvio.
He will become angry.
So angry that whatever they do to him
he will never say a word.
Finally, in about a month,
they will give up on him.
I am Silvio Ayala. An Argentinean.
I'm sorry.
Really. I'm sorry, Esme.
The minute you spoke his name I knew there was nothing
I could do for him.
I knew.
Would you mind walking a little way?
No.
Are you Avrom?
Yes. Do I know you?
I spent some time with your parents at L'Esperanza.
Oh, you are Carlos Rueda?
That's right.
My mother wrote to me about you.
Walk home with me.
Sure.
It's only a few streets away,
and I'll make you some coffee.
Thank you.
The time I spent with your parents was amazing.
I thought maybe I imagined the whole thing.
Oh no. They are very, very real.
What's the matter?
What is that?
The shoe?
How long has it been here?
She put it up sometime last year.
I must speak to her.
- Carlos, it's after midnight. - It's very important.
Yes.
The shoe, senora.
What about the shoe?
The woman it belonged to.
What did she say when they took her away?
What she said was Carlos
Are you Carlos?
Yes.
She's my wife.
Then you ought to take the shoe.
She's still alive.
Mama.
Silencio
Sir.
I've decided.
It's time to pass your daughter on,
but to whom?
So I thought it was only fair to leave the choice to you.
Choose.
I'm not going to choose.
You're here to be punished.
Choosing is part of your punishment.
Let them take me.
They're bored with you.
And I'm bored with her,
so there's really no alternative.
Hey!
I'm waiting.
Alright. Duarte, you take her.
Be strong.
We want them back alive They took them alive
Let them say where the missing are
We want them back alive
They took them alive
No, no, no.
No, no no no no
No, no, no!
No, no.
She's gone.
I suddenly understood, Esme. Don't ask me how.
That if I killed myself I was condemning her to death.
So I fought my way back to the shore.
And when the time comes,
you'll know when, ask me your question.
Cecilia Rueda was taken from
this house on May 23, 1976.
Her husband found her glasses
on the bedroom floor.
Take her away.
Yes, sir.
Bring me number... 17
Goal!
They were very hard on you.
Are you able to spend the night with me?
I'm very lonely.
I can't stay all night.
I just want someone to hold me for a while.
No. Turn your back.
But I'd like to undress you.
Otherwise it's like all the others.
All right.
This must be our last meeting.
Things are changing very fast.
And I want you to think about those Generals...
who will never be troubled
by those who have disappeared.
Or care that to many of us
they have left nothing
but a remembered face.
Soon, they will be trying to forget these years.
Pretending they never happened at all.
So, it will be up to us to keep the truth alive.
They know their days are numbered
So they are emptying the prisons
and burying the bodies and destroying the records.
They are inviting the foreign journalists
and the human rights people.
And saying, look, the press is free, and the theatres are open.
And there is a carnival in the streets and it is all over.
And what they really mean...
Is that it will only be over until the next time.
Good night.
I don't think we should have these repaired.
I want them to remember.
So we'll start again with the Orfeo?
Well first I would like to do some rewriting.
Does it need it?
Orfeo!
I think I want to give it a happy ending.
Like in Monteverdi's opera, remember?
In the end the Gods forgive him, and bring him back his wife.
Why don't we try that?
Which one would you like?
All of them.
Carlos!
Never again!.