''Funny Dirty Little War'' ( es, No habrá más penas ni olvido; original title translatable as "There will be no more sorrow or forgetfulness", a line from '' Mi Buenos Aires Querido'' tango lyrics) is a 1983

Argentine Argentines (mistakenly translated Argentineans in the past; in Spanish (masculine) or (feminine)) are people identified with the country of Argentina. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Argentines, s ...

comedy-drama film directed by Héctor Olivera, written by Olivera and

Roberto Cossa Roberto Cossa (born November 30, 1934) is a prominent Argentinian playwright and theatre director. Life and work Roberto Cossa was born in Buenos Aires, Argentina, and raised in the quiet residential borough of Villa del Parque. He first acted i ...

, based on a novel of the same name by

Osvaldo Soriano Osvaldo Soriano (January 6, 1943 – January 29, 1997) was an Argentine journalist and writer.Osvaldo Soriano
at the

. It was produced by Fernando Ayala and Luis O. Repetto, and stars Federico Luppi,

Miguel Ángel Solá Miguel Ángel Solá Vehil (born May 14, 1950) is an Argentine actor who has made over 60 film appearances in film and TV in Argentina since 1973. Biography Born in Buenos Aires, Solá belongs to the Vehil's dynasty of actors, eight generations ...

Ulises Dumont Ulises Dumont (April 7, 1937 – November 29, 2008) was a prolific Argentine film actor, credited with over 80 appearances in film and countless others in theatre and television from 1964 until his death in 2008. Life and work Born in 1937 in ...

Héctor Bidonde Héctor Pastor Bidonde (born March 3, 1937 in La Plata) is a noted Argentine theatre, film and television actor. He was a shift worker in a tool & dye factory when, in 1954, he was offered a part in Carlos P. Cabral's play ''Amarretes''. He was ...

and

Víctor Laplace Víctor Laplace (born 30 May 1943) is an Argentina, Argentine film actor. Laplace was born in Tandil, Buenos Aires. The son of a watchmaking jeweler and a housewife. When he was 14, he started working as a metallurgist in a factory, there he als ...

Plot

During the early years of the 1970s, Ricardo Guglielmini is the mayor of Colonia Vela, a small country village in an undisclosed province of central Argentina. He plots with Héctor Suprino, a local

Peronist Peronism, also called justicialism,. The Justicialist Party is the main Peronist party in Argentina, it derives its name from the concept of social justice., name=, group= is an Argentine political movement based on the ideas and legacy of Ar ...

spin doctor In public relations and politics, spin is a form of propaganda, achieved through knowingly providing a biased interpretation of an event or campaigning to influence public opinion about some organization or public figure. While traditional publi ...

, and Reinaldo, a union leader, to get the town's deputy mayor, Ignacio Fuentes, kicked out of office, due to his increasing popularity, which threatens Guglilemini's decades-long hold on the mayorship. Fuentes is told that he has to fire his assistant Mateo because of his

Marxist Marxism is a Left-wing politics, left-wing to Far-left politics, far-left method of socioeconomic analysis that uses a Materialism, materialist interpretation of historical development, better known as historical materialism, to understand S ...

sympathies. Fuentes, despite disagreeing with Marxist ideals himself, declines, refusing to be politically strong-armed. Taking advantage of this, Guglilemini publicly accuses Fuentes of aiding communist guerillas as an excuse to fire him or get him to resign. When Fuentes refuses, Gugliemini sends the police to arrest him, but Fuentes, rather than cave in to the pressure, takes to arms and then barricades himself in the town hall, along with his allies and friends; Mateo, Corporal García, Juan, Rodrigo, Moyito and Crazy Ceres. Guglielmini orders the police to storm the building, which leads to a massive stand-off between the local police force and Fuentes' men. The counter-Fuentes operation, led by Chief Llanos and Sub-Chief Rossi, initially only attempts to threaten Fuentes into surrendering, but soon evolves into a real shootout when members of the Argentine Anticommunist Alliance, led by Rogelio Almeido, show up and intervene. During the shootout with the AAA, Moyito is killed and several police officers are wounded, which leads to a temporary ceasefire and a deadlock. Juan sneaks out through the back to look for the local crop duster pilot, Cerviño, in order to convince him to help Fuentes by conducting an aerial attack as a distraction so he can sneak more ammo and explosives into the building. As night falls, a group of delusional local leftist guerrilla youths, led by Matilda Gómez, gather in an abandoned warehouse and make a completely unrealistic and blatantly flawed plan to use the conflict as a means to start a civil war in Argentina, take over the government and convert the country into a communist state. They start out by kidnapping Chief Llanos and holding him for a ransom of several tons of explosives and weaponry. Not wanting to give more resources to the communists, Guglielmini abandons Llanos and declares Rossi the new police chief. Rossi leads a new attack on Fuentes, this time using bulldozers as cover to advance on the town hall. Rodrigo and Crazy Ceres are killed during this attack and Fuentes, García and Mateo are barely saved because Cerviño arrives in the nick of time and sprays pesticides all over the police with his plane, causing them to temporarily disperse. The guerrillas attack the local union with a pipe bomb, killing Reinaldo, which prompts the AAA agents to abandon the fight against Fuentes and instead attempt to kill the guerrilla troopers. Famed local

Radical Radical may refer to: Politics and ideology Politics *Radical politics, the political intent of fundamental societal change *Radicalism (historical), the Radical Movement that began in late 18th century Britain and spread to continental Europe and ...

former senator Prudencio Gúzman attempts to negotiate with the communists for Llanos' release, but the peace talks fall through and Llanos is ultimately executed. The police regroup and prepare for a third attack. In order to buy some time and distract Rossi, Mateo turns himself in while Fuentes, García and Juan prepare a bomb with the explosives the latter had previously brought in. Regardless of Mateo's surrender, the raid proceeds and, when the police storms the town hall, the bomb goes off, killing several police officers and giving Fuentes, García and Juan enough time to escape through the back. In retaliation, Almeido kills Mateo. Despite managing to escape the town hall, the trio are soon found by the police and Fuentes and García are taken captive. Juan, however, manages to escape. Desperate, he contacts the guerrillas, who promise to help free Fuentes and García if Juan shows them where he keeps his explosives stash. Juan additionally convinces Cerviño to cause one more diversion with his plane. Juan and the guerrillas, this time led by Matilda Gómez herself, carry out an attack on the school. First, Cerviño uses his plane to drop manure on the police, distracting them long enough to allow Juan and Matilda to sneak into the building. Once inside, they bust García free, but due to AAA reinforcements, they're forced to leave Fuentes behind. The AAA and the communists face off in a massive shootout inside the school, which ends with most people on both sides dead. Cerviño and his plane are followed by one of the few surviving AAA members, who shoots him when he lands. While fleeing the shootout at the school, Matilda and the other three surviving guerrillas get blown up by Almeido, who finishes them off in a suicide bombing. Suprino severely beats Fuentes and then Guglielmini tries to talk him into taking the blame for the whole ordeal. When he refuses, Guglielmini and Suprino leave, letting Rossi execute Fuentes. While leaving town, Suprino realizes Guglielmini plans to frame him for inciting the whole incident, so he runs him over with his truck before escaping. When morning finally dawns, García and Juan go to Cerviño's house, where they find him, wounded but still alive. To comfort him in his dying moments, they tell him Fuentes won the battle. Cerviño makes them promise to tell General Perón about him if he ever returns to the country, after which he dies. Once they've buried Cerviño, Juan and García begin to head into the countryside while discussing the many ways they could convince Perón to return. The song "''Mi Buenos Aires Querido''" begins to play as the credits start rolling.

Cast

* Federico Luppi as Ignacio Fuentes *

as Juan *

Julio de Grazia Julio is the Spanish equivalent of the month July and may refer to: *Julio (given name) *Julio (surname) *Júlio de Castilhos, a municipality of the western part of the state of Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil * ''Julio'' (album), a 1983 compilation albu ...

as Corporal Garcia *

as Cerviño *

Lautaro Murúa Lautaro Murúa (; 29 December 1926 in Tacna, Chile – 3 December 1995 in Madrid) was a Chilean-Argentine actor, film director, and screenwriter. He is one of the best known actors in the cinema of Argentina. Born in Chile, Murúa moved to ...

as Mayor Guglielmini *

as Héctor Suprino *

Rodolfo Ranni Rodolfo Ranni (born 31 October 1937 in Trieste, Italy) is an Italian Argentine film actor.Rodolfo Ranni
at the

Raul Rizzo Raul, Raúl and Raül are the Italian, Portuguese, Romanian, Spanish, Galician, Asturian, Basque, Aragonese, and Catalan forms of the Anglo-Germanic given name Ralph or Rudolph. They are cognates of the French Raoul. Raul, Raúl or Raül may re ...

as Sub-Chief Rossi * Luis Martínez Rusconi as Rogelio Almeido * Emilio Vidal as Reinaldo *

Victor Laplace The name Victor or Viktor may refer to: * Victor (name), including a list of people with the given name, mononym, or surname Arts and entertainment Film * ''Victor'' (1951 film), a French drama film * ''Victor'' (1993 film), a French shor ...

as Prudencio Gúzman * Alicia Baistrocchi as Matilda Gómez * José María Lopez as Mateo * Arturo Maly as Toto * Graciela Dufau as Mrs. Fuentes *

Patricio Contreras Patricio Contreras (born December 15, 1947) is a Chilean-Argentine television, film and stage actor. Biography Contreras was born in Santiago, Chile in 1947 and emigrated to neighboring Argentina following the 1973 coup d'état against left-w ...

as Police Officer Comini * Fernando Iglesias as Moyanito *

María Socas María Antonia Socas Ortiz Lanús (Buenos Aires, August 12, 1959) is an Argentine actress. Although active in various media in her native country, particularly ''telenovelas'' and stage,JP group *

Salo Pasik Salo or Salò may refer to: Places Finland *Salo, Finland, a town in Western Finland **Salo sub-region, a subdivision of Finland Proper and one of the Sub-regions of Finland since 2009 *An old name of Saloinen, a former municipality in Ostroboth ...

as Journalist * Rodolfo Brindisi as "Crazy" Peláez * Héctor Olivera as Rebel (cameo) *

Osvaldo Soriano Osvaldo Soriano (January 6, 1943 – January 29, 1997) was an Argentine journalist and writer.Osvaldo Soriano
at the

as Rebel (cameo)

Background

The film is based on real political event that took place in Argentina in the mid-1970s. The film depicts, '' sub silentio,'' the struggle between the

Montoneros Montoneros ( es, link=no, Movimiento Peronista Montonero-MPM) was an Argentine left-wing Peronist guerrilla organization, active throughout the 1970s and early 1980s. The name is an allusion to the 19th-century cavalry militias called Montoner ...

political movement and the

right-wing Right-wing politics describes the range of political ideologies that view certain social orders and hierarchies as inevitable, natural, normal, or desirable, typically supporting this position on the basis of natural law, economics, authorit ...

Peronist forces. The Montonero Peronist Movement ( es, Movimiento Peronista Montonero) was an

left-wing Peronist guerrilla group, active during the 1970s. Its motto was ''venceremos'' ("we will be victorious"). After

Juan Perón Juan Domingo Perón (, , ; 8 October 1895 – 1 July 1974) was an Argentine Army general and politician. After serving in several government positions, including Minister of Labour and Vice President of a military dictatorship, he was elected P ...

's return from 20 years of exile and the June 20, 1973 Ezeiza massacre, which marked the definitive split between left and

Peronism, the Montoneros were expelled from the

Justicialist The Justicialist Party ( es, Partido Justicialista, ; abbr. PJ) is a major political party in Argentina, and the largest branch within Peronism. Current president Alberto Fernández belongs to the Justicialist Party (and has, since 2021, served ...

party in May 1974 by Perón. The group was almost completely dismantled in 1977, during Jorge Rafael Videla's dictatorship.

Distribution

''Funny Dirty Little War'' first opened in Argentina on September 22, 1983. It has been featured at various film festivals including the

Toronto Festival of Festivals The Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF, often stylized as tiff) is one of the largest publicly attended film festivals in the world, attracting over 480,000 people annually. Since its founding in 1976, TIFF has grown to become a permane ...

; the Berlin International Film Festival; the

Cognac Festival du Film Policier The Festival du Film policier de Cognac ( en, Cognac Crime Film Festival) was an annual film festival that took place in Cognac, France from 1982 to 2007 (with no festival being held in 1991).Cognac, France Cognac (; Saintongese: ''Cougnat''; oc, Conhac ) is a commune in the Charente department, southwestern France. Administratively, the commune of Cognac is a subprefecture of the Charente department. Name The name is believed to be formed from ...

; and the New Directors/New Films Festival in New York City.

Reception

Critical response

Vincent Canby, writing for '' The New York Times,'' complimented the acting, pacing, and Héctor Olivera's directorial style, and wrote, "The film has also been so cannily paced - and is so well acted - that there's never much time to consider larger meanings while the mayhem is going on. Though ''Funny Dirty Little War'' ends bleakly, the existence of the film itself - the fact that it could be made at all, and with such style - is ultimately invigorating."Canby, Vincent
''The New York Times,'' film review, March 30, 1985. Last accessed: January 15, 2008.

Accolades

Wins * Berlin International Film Festival: ''Confédération Internationale des Cinémas d'Art et Essai Juries'' (C.I.C.A.E.) Award; International Federation of Film Critics (

FIPRESCI The International Federation of Film Critics (FIPRESCI, short for Fédération Internationale de la PRESse CInématographique) is an association of national organizations of professional film critics and film journalists from around the world fo ...

) Prize; Silver Berlin Bear, Special Jury Prize; 1984. *

Cognac Festival du Film Policier The Festival du Film policier de Cognac ( en, Cognac Crime Film Festival) was an annual film festival that took place in Cognac, France from 1982 to 2007 (with no festival being held in 1991).''No habrá más penas ni olvido''
at the cinenacional.com
''No habrá más penas ni olvido''
film trailer at YouTube {{Silver Bear for Jury Grand Prix 1983 films 1980s political comedy-drama films Argentine independent films 1980s black comedy films Films based on Argentine novels Films directed by Héctor Olivera 1980s Spanish-language films Silver Bear Grand Jury Prize winners 1983 comedy films