''Verónico Cruz'' ( es, link=no, Verónico Cruz: La deuda interna) is a 1988 Argentine and British drama film. The motion picture is directed by Miguel Pereira, his first, and written by Pereira and Eduardo Leiva Muller. The movie was produced by Julio Lencina and Sasha Menocki and features Juan José Camero, Gonzalo Morales, among others. The author of the book, Fortunato Ramos, appears in the film in the opening scenes as Verónico's father. The drama tells the story of an Argentine elementary-school teacher sent by the government to a rural hamlet located in the northwestern province of Jujuy. It shows how he touches the lives of the villagers, especially the young and impressionable boy Verónico, whose mother died and father left to seek work when he was an infant. The film is based on a non-fiction book written by Fortunato Ramos, a rural teacher in northwest Argentina, that discusses his teaching experiences. In a survey of the 100 greatest films of Argentine cinema carried out by the

Museo del Cine Pablo Ducrós Hicken Museo del Cine Pablo Ducrós Hicken is a museum of cinema of Argentina located in Buenos Aires. It was established on 1971 and holds a collection of 65,000 reels of film. History The Cinema Museum of the City of Buenos Aires was created on Oc ...

in 2000, the film reached the 21st position.

Plot

The film is set in the mid 1970s and ends at the time of the 1982

Falklands War The Falklands War ( es, link=no, Guerra de las Malvinas) was a ten-week undeclared war between Argentina and the United Kingdom in 1982 over two British dependent territories in the South Atlantic: the Falkland Islands and its territorial ...

between the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and ...

and

Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the List of South American countries by area, second-largest ...

. Verónico Cruz ( Gonzalo Morales) is a poor

indigenous Indigenous may refer to: *Indigenous peoples *Indigenous (ecology), presence in a region as the result of only natural processes, with no human intervention *Indigenous (band), an American blues-rock band *Indigenous (horse), a Hong Kong racehorse ...

Argentine shepherd boy who lives in the desolate and harsh

Andean The Andes, Andes Mountains or Andean Mountains (; ) are the longest continental mountain range in the world, forming a continuous highland along the western edge of South America. The range is long, wide (widest between 18°S – 20°S l ...

highlands. He lives in Chorcán, a small

hamlet ''The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark'', often shortened to ''Hamlet'' (), is a tragedy written by William Shakespeare sometime between 1599 and 1601. It is Shakespeare's longest play, with 29,551 words. Set in Denmark, the play depicts ...

in the

Jujuy Province Jujuy is a province of Argentina, located in the extreme northwest of the country, at the borders with Chile and Bolivia. The only neighboring Argentine province is Salta to the east and south. Geography There are three main areas in Jujuy: * ...

. One day Mr. Lehrer (Juan José Camero) arrives in Chorcán to take the job as the new school teacher. Verónico comes to idolise his new teacher, who is also known as ''el maestro'' as a sign of respect and affection. At one point in the film ''el maestro'' takes Verónico on his first road trip to

San Salvador de Jujuy San Salvador de Jujuy (), commonly known as Jujuy and locally often referred to as San Salvador, is the capital and largest city of Jujuy Province in northwest Argentina. Also, it is the seat of the Doctor Manuel Belgrano Department. It lies near ...

, the capital of the Jujuy Province, to look for Verónico's father, who the boy has never met. While there Lehrer is interrogated harshly by government authorities and discovers Castulo Cruz is considered a subversive by the military and that he probably has become a '' desaparecido''. As Verónico Cruz learns about the outside world from his teacher, so too does Lehrer come to understand and appreciate the indigenous people who live in northwest rural Argentina and their history. Lehrer, near the end of the film, is given a promotion and leaves Verónico's small village to teach at a larger school far away. However, the warm relationship between ''el maestro'' and Verónico ends after Verónico joins the

navy A navy, naval force, or maritime force is the branch of a nation's armed forces principally designated for naval and amphibious warfare; namely, lake-borne, riverine, littoral, or ocean-borne combat operations and related functions. It in ...

and Argentine troops invade the

Falkland Islands The Falkland Islands (; es, Islas Malvinas, link=no ) is an archipelago in the South Atlantic Ocean on the Patagonian Shelf. The principal islands are about east of South America's southern Patagonian coast and about from Cape Dubouze ...

. ''El maestro'' later gets a letter from Verónico, that he is serving at the ARA Belgrano as a crewman, at the same time that he gets news that the ARA Belgrano has been sunk by a British submarine.

Cast

* Juan José Camero as Lehrer, the teacher who befriends Verónico. He's known as ''el maestro'' by the village folk. * Gonzalo Morales as Verónico Cruz, the main character. The film is about his coming-of-age. He learns about Argentina from ''el maestro'' and is presumed killed at the end of the story in the sinking of the cruiser ARA ''General Belgrano'' during the

. * Fortunato Ramos as Castulo Cruz, who is Verónico's father and appears in the opening sequence and is seen leaving the hamlet to find work and feed his family. He finds political trouble in the large city and never returns. The film is based on Mr. Ramos' work in northwest Argentina. * Anna Maria Gonzales as the Grandmother, who is fearful for Verónico to learn about the cruel world and prefers that he not go to school. Yet she changes her mind and allows Verónico to attend classes. * Juanita Caceres as Juanita, is Verónico's young love-interest. * Don Leopoldo Aban as Don Domingo * Guillermo Delgado as Policeman * Rene Olaguivel as The Commissioner * Titina Gaspar as Verónico's Mother * Raul Calles as Officer * Leo Salgado as Police Officer * Luis Uceda as Soldier

Production

Politics in Argentine films

''Verónico Cruz'' is part of what can be considered a second group of films to be made in Argentina since the downfall of the last military dictatorship in 1982. The first group, like '' The Official Story'' (1985) and '' Night of the Pencils'' (1986), dealt frankly with the repression, the tortures, and the disappearances 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 a ...

in the 1970s. This second group of films uses metaphor and hints at wider socio-political issues.Brazier, Chris
''New Internationalist'', Issue 192, February 1989.

Casting

Miguel Pereira, in neo-realist fashion, used extras and bit players when he filmed in the

and Chorcán.

Filming locations

Filming locations include; Chorcán,

Humahuaca Humahuaca () is a small city in the province of Jujuy, Argentina. Since 2003 declared World Heritage Site by UNESCO at the Paris conference. It has 11,369 inhabitants as per the , and is the principal town (seat) of the Department of Humahuaca. T ...

Department;

; both in the

, Argentina. Jujuy Province is located in the northwest part of Argentina, high in the

Andes The Andes, Andes Mountains or Andean Mountains (; ) are the longest continental mountain range in the world, forming a continuous highland along the western edge of South America. The range is long, wide (widest between 18°S – 20°S ...

.Maslin, Janet
''The New York Times'', "Growing Up in Argentina, Isolated And Naive," 5 January 1990.

Controversy in Britain

According to the ''New Internationalist'' some of the English press was critical of the film's funding. The

British Film Institute The British Film Institute (BFI) is a film and television charitable organisation which promotes and preserves film-making and television in the United Kingdom. The BFI uses funds provided by the National Lottery to encourage film production, ...

and

Channel Four Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network operated by the state-owned Channel Four Television Corporation. It began its transmission on 2 November 1982 and was established to provide a fourth television service in ...

partly funded the film and the English provincial press called their action "treasonable." The

was, after all, between Great Britain and Argentina they argued.

Distribution

The film was first featured at the

38th Berlin International Film Festival The 38th annual Berlin International Film Festival was held from 12 to 23 February 1988. The festival opened with musical film ''Linie 1'' by Reinhard Hauff. The Golden Bear was awarded to the Chinese film '' Red Sorghum'' directed by Zhang Yimo ...

in February 1988 where it won many awards, including the Silver Berlin Bear. It opened in Argentina on 4 August 1988. The film was also shown at 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 perman ...

, Canada, on 13 September 1988. In the United States the movie opened in New York City on 5 January 1990 and Los Angeles in March 1990. The motion picture was Argentina's official selection for the 1988

Academy Awards The Academy Awards, better known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international film industry. The awards are regarded by many as the most prestigious, significant awards in the entertainment ind ...

Foreign Language A foreign language is a language that is not an official language of, nor typically spoken in, a given country, and that native speakers from that country must usually acquire through conscious learning - be this through language lessons at school ...

film category.Margaret Herrick Library, Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences

Reception

Critical response

Chris Brazier, film critic for the British politically progressive magazine the ''New Internationalist,'' liked the film and wrote " he drama isstrung together like beads on a rosary, a slow-paced but highly polished series of tableaux... nd isbeautifully shot with a lovely use of available light and low camera angles." The 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 ...

'',

Janet Maslin Janet R. Maslin (born August 12, 1949) is an American journalist, best known as a film and literary critic for ''The New York Times''. She served as a ''Times'' film critic from 1977 to 1999 and as a book critic from 2000 to 2015. In 2000 Maslin ...

, especially liked the look of the motion picture, and wrote, "Chorcán, where Verónico lives, is captured in all its bleak beauty...The film has been handsomely photographed in sunlight so clear that the shadows of clouds moving across hillsides stand out in sharp relief." She was, however, disappointed by the slow pace of the film.

Accolades

Wins *

: Interfilm Award, Honorable Mention; OCIC Award, Honorable Mention; Silver Bear for outstanding artistic contribution. All for , * Bogota Film Festival: Special Prize, Miguel Pereira, 1989. *

Argentine Film Critics Association Awards The Argentine Film Critics Association ( es, Asociación de Cronistas Cinematográficos de la Argentina) is an organization of Argentine-based journalists and correspondents. The association presents the ''Silver Condor Awards'' (''Premios Cóndor ...

: Silver Condor, Best Film, 1989. Nominations * Berlin International Film Festival: Golden Berlin Bear, Miguel Pereira, 1988.

References

External links

* *
''Verónico Cruz''
detailed plot summary at Epinions
''La deuda interna''
at the

cinenacional.com Cinenacional.com is a web portal and World Wide Web, web-based database about Cinema of Argentina, Argentine cinema. It is the most comprehensive site for information about the Argentine film industry, with a vast array of information on films, tel ...

''La deuda interna''
film clip at YouTube (''El maestro'' arrives at the school)
Fortunato Ramos
biographical video at YouTube {{DEFAULTSORT:Veronico Cruz (Film) 1988 films 1980s political drama films British political drama films Films about Latin American military dictatorships Films based on non-fiction books Films directed by Miguel Pereira British independent films Indigenous cinema in Latin America Argentine drama films Social realism in film 1980s Spanish-language films Silver Bear for outstanding artistic contribution 1988 independent films 1988 drama films Argentine coming-of-age films 1980s British films