''Olympic Garage'' ( es, Garage Olimpo) is a 1999
Argentine drama film
In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. Drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular super ...
, directed by
Marco Bechis
Marco Bechis (born in Santiago, Chile) is a Chilean-Italian film screenwriter and director. His film ''Garage Olimpo'' was screened at the 1999 Cannes Film Festival in the Un Certain Regard section.
Selected filmography
* '' Alambrado'' (1991) ...
.
The film was produced by
Marco Bechis
Marco Bechis (born in Santiago, Chile) is a Chilean-Italian film screenwriter and director. His film ''Garage Olimpo'' was screened at the 1999 Cannes Film Festival in the Un Certain Regard section.
Selected filmography
* '' Alambrado'' (1991) ...
,
Enrique Piñeyro (from Argentina), Amedeo Pagani (Italy), and Eric Heumann (France). Executive producers
Daniel Burman
Daniel Burman (born 29 August 1973, in Buenos Aires) is an Argentine film director, screenplay writer, and producer.
According to film critic Joel Poblete, who writes for ''Mabuse'', a cinema magazine, Daniel Burman is one of the members of the ...
and
Diego Dubcovsky
Diego Dubcovsky (born Buenos Aires) is an Argentine film producer.
He works in the cinema of Argentina.
In 1995, he launched his own production company together with Daniel Burman, BD Cine (Burman and Dubcovsky Cine).
En 2015 he created the ...
.
The picture is about a young politically active Argentine woman who is kidnapped by the military during Argentina's
Dirty War
The Dirty War ( es, Guerra sucia) is the name used by the military junta or civic-military dictatorship of Argentina ( es, dictadura cívico-militar de Argentina, links=no) for the period of state terrorism in Argentina from 1974 to 1983 as ...
in the late 1970s. She is taken to a torture center called ''Garage Olimpo'' in the middle of Buenos Aires.
Plot
The film tells of Maria (
Antonella Costa), an activist fighting the Argentinian military dictatorship during the
Dirty War
The Dirty War ( es, Guerra sucia) is the name used by the military junta or civic-military dictatorship of Argentina ( es, dictadura cívico-militar de Argentina, links=no) for the period of state terrorism in Argentina from 1974 to 1983 as ...
.
She teaches reading and writing in a poor suburb of
Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires ( or ; ), officially the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires ( es, link=no, Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires), is the capital and primate city of Argentina. The city is located on the western shore of the Río de la Plata, on South ...
and lives with her mother Diane (
Dominique Sanda
Dominique Marie-Françoise Renée Varaigne (born 11 March 1951), professionally known as Dominique Sanda, is a French actress and former fashion model.
Life and career
Sanda was born in Paris, to Lucienne (née Pichon) and Gérard Varaigne. She ...
), who rents out rooms. One of the lodgers is a young man named Felix (
Carlos Echevarría), who is in love with Maria, and rather shy. Felix seems to have come from nowhere and is supposed to work as a watchman in a garage.
One morning, Maria is kidnapped by a military squad in civilian clothes in front of her mother and is taken to the garage ''Olimpo,'' one of the many well-known torture places in the middle of Buenos Aires, which operate with the general indifference of the locals.
As soon as Maria is captured the film's mood becomes uncomfortable and the atmosphere is minimalist. The head of the center, Tigre (
Enrique Piñeyro), asks Felix, their best torturer, to make Maria talk. Yet, Felix is overcome by his feelings for Maria, and Maria is determined to exploit this for her survival.
Cast
*
Antonella Costa as Maria
*
Carlos Echevarría as Felix
*
Enrique Piñeyro as Tigre
* Pablo Razuk as Tex
*
Chiara Caselli
Chiara Caselli (born 22 December 1967) is an Italian actress. In 1994, Caselli won the Nastro d'Argento for Best Actress award as well as the David di Donatello for Best Actress award. Caselli has appeared in American films including ''My Own Pr ...
as Ana
*
Dominique Sanda
Dominique Marie-Françoise Renée Varaigne (born 11 March 1951), professionally known as Dominique Sanda, is a French actress and former fashion model.
Life and career
Sanda was born in Paris, to Lucienne (née Pichon) and Gérard Varaigne. She ...
as Diane
* Paola Bechis as Gloria
* Adrián Fondari as Rubio
* Marcelo Chaparro as Turco
* Miguel Oliveira as Nene
* Ruy Krieger as Francisco
* Marcos Montes as Víbora
*
Erica Rivas
Erica or ERICA may refer to:
* Erica (given name)
* ''Erica'' (plant), a flowering plant genus
* Erica (chatbot), a service of Bank of America
* ''Erica'' (video game), a 2019 FMV video game
* ''Erica'' (spider), a jumping spider genus
* Eric ...
as Hija de Tigre
Production
The film is based on the real political events that took place in Argentina after
Jorge Rafael Videla
Jorge Rafael Videla (; ; 2 August 1925 – 17 May 2013) was an Argentine military officer and dictator, Commander in Chief of the Army, member of the Military Junta, and ''de facto'' President of Argentina from 29 March 1976 to 29 March 1981. H ...
's reactionary military ''junta'' assumed power on March 24, 1976. During the junta's rule: the parliament was suspended, unions, political parties and provincial governments were banned, and in what became known as the
Dirty War
The Dirty War ( es, Guerra sucia) is the name used by the military junta or civic-military dictatorship of Argentina ( es, dictadura cívico-militar de Argentina, links=no) for the period of state terrorism in Argentina from 1974 to 1983 as ...
between 9,000 and 30,000 people deemed left-wing "subversives" disappeared from society.
As the country celebrated its win of the World Cup, many political activists were tortured in Buenos Aires and then later taken on "death flights", where victims were drugged and then dropped alive into the Atlantic Ocean from military aircraft.
Chile
Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in the western part of South America. It is the southernmost country in the world, and the closest to Antarctica, occupying a long and narrow strip of land between the Andes to the east a ...
an born director Marco Bechis was a victim of the country's military regime and was forced to leave Argentina in 1977, at the age of 20, for political reasons.
Distribution
The film was first presented at the
1999 Cannes Film Festival
The 52nd Cannes Film Festival was held from 12 to 23 May 1999. Canadian filmmaker, actor and author David Cronenberg was the Jury President. The Palme d'Or went to the French– Belgian film ''Rosetta'' by Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne.
The festi ...
on May 16 in the
Un Certain Regard
(, meaning 'a certain glance') is a section of the Cannes Film Festival's official selection. It is run at the Debussy, parallel to the competition for the . This section was introduced in 1978 by Gilles Jacob.
The section presents 20 films w ...
section.
It opened wide in Argentina on September 2, 1999.
The film was screened at various film festivals, including: the
Toronto International Film Festival
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 perman ...
,
Canada
Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...
; the Huelva Latin American Film Festival,
Spain
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, image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg
, national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond")
, national_anthem = (English: "Royal March")
, i ...
; the Norwegian International Film Festival,
Norway
Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the ...
; the Human Rights Watch Film Festival,
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...
; the Amnesty International Film Festival,
Netherlands
)
, anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau")
, image_map =
, map_caption =
, subdivision_type = Sovereign state
, subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands
, established_title = Before independence
, established_date = Spanish Netherl ...
; and others.
Reception
Critical response
Stephen Holden, film critic for ''
The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...
'', wrote the film is "notable on the international front...a not-for-the-squeamish film from Argentina about an opponent of the military dictatorship who is tortured in a garage in the heart of Buenos Aires."
Critic Jonathan Hollander liked the directorial lead of Marco Bechis, and wrote, "''Garage Olimpo'' is the kind of valuable cultural product that symbolises political regeneration...himself a victim of the country's regime – he was forced to leave Argentina in 1977, at the age of 20, for political reasons – director Marco Bechis has the necessary moral authority to make this film."
Michael Thomson, writing for the ''
BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC
Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...
...
,'' lauded the film and the passion of director Marco Bechis, and wrote, "It is director Marco Bechis' softly-softly approach which fills each frame with real power and leaves you in no doubt as to his commitment and passion. It is indeed no surprise to learn that this Italian-Chilean was himself snatched by the military in Buenos Aires and tortured. Yet, despite his admirable insistence on moving us with the truth (helped by his grainy camera work), Bechis can also tell a tale and he gradually incorporates a race-against-time element. Will Maria escape, especially when she is taken out on the town by her captor? Let's just say that the answer would be alien to Hollywood."