ABSTRACT
Chile was not the only Southern Cone country that was ruled by a brutal right wing dictatorship in the 1970s and 1980s. The same was also true of Paraguay, Uruguay, and Argentina, where the next film takes place. From 1976 to 1983 Argentina experienced what is generally referred to as the “Dirty War,” as the country's various military juntas made war on leftists and all others considered to be subversive. Torture, disappearances, and summary executions became a part of everyday life. Yet, the only reason the dictatorship fell was because of Argentina's defeat in the Falkland Islands War with Great Britain. After this, however, a remarkable political phenomenon took place: the new democratic government carried out domestic trials against the country's former junta leaders. Not coincidentally, Argentina has been a democracy ever since. Still, one of the issues the country is still wrestling with involves the adoption of the children of some of those who had been “disappeared.”
