Kamchatka (2002)

Story: It's very simple but honestly that is fine.

Exactly the movie you think it is, but not the movie you want it to be.

It is encouraging that the film ends so strongly.Otherwise, it wouldn't have been a particularly memorable film

A clunky actioner with a handful of cool moments.

(I think there will not be spoilers)For people who used to play T.E.G. (a society game) the power of a bridge-country in the world map is a well known stuff. Kamchatka is about the resistance of a family, just at the very beginning of 76's, in a recently militarized Argentina where too much people will disappear.Nevertheless, the story is not about the army, either not about physical tortures, or missing people. There is not any trace of documentary aim. Only a camera showing what could happened to a family involved into these sadly events and how could they keep its unity, in a human righted way.The plot is simple and moving. For Argentineans that lived these events at this time -as it was in my case at more or less the same age that the boy tells the story-, a lot of landscapes (cars, costumes, 'cigarettes', slang, ambiance, etc.) will touch them. But this is only an excuse to show the weird dynamics of a family running out of the new dictatorial and potentially murderer establishment. Dialogs are plenty of freshness and simplicity. Images of the village and the 'retiro' are also simple and quiet. One can follow the frustrations and discoveries of the older son without none violence or strangeness, at the same time that we can feel the desperation of the parents to survive. The camera is not exactly the eyes of the son, but a silent eye -judgeless- inviting us to participate to what is going on. The only critics to my eyes are about the playing of the older son, sometimes overacted. Main adult actors (Darin and Roth) are what they finally reached out: two good (may be the best) examples of what Argentina could deserve in play roles. There is something of inexorable maturity in their attitudes and compositions of the characters.Music is calm water all over the movie. No judgement either. Simple and melodic piano riffs, accompanying the different scenes (mainly in the 'huis clos' at the villa, or on the lonely 'praderas bonaerenses').And certainly, the message that wants to deserve Pineyro lays on the title, linked to the first slides and to the last scenes of this great movie. A must to be seen southern pearl. 9/10.

This movie exudes the finesse and maturity of Latin American cinema of the new millenium. Long gone is the exploitation of magical realism and the cult of the exotic. The noble savage gives way to universal characters with very complex feelings.I'm so glad this old baggage of the victim's complex has been checked at the door. The result is a beautiful movie about a family on the run during the 1970's Argentine military junta crack down. Kamchatka is free of the cliches and over-acting of Latin American movies of yesteryear. National identity is no longer the main story line, but rather a subtle backdrop that brings about one of the best stories about political crisis anywhere, the dismembering of a family.Kamchatka has one of the most arresting final scenes that I have ever seen. This is a grand achievement of Argentine film.

Like "Harry", I always enjoyed playing TEG. If you have never played it, don´t worry, for it´s actually pretty simple: one board with fifty countries, and three or four players trying to control 30 of them to win the game. But Harry has never played with so many people - he just plays with his dad. And when its only two players, it is a fight to the death: all 50 countries or nothing. Harry has never won before, and he is very close to winning - but his dad, controlling this little, obscure region on the edge of the board, this remote place with a tongue twister of a name, Kamchatka, still manages to resist for hours and hours. As Harry will learn later, surviving against all odds is indeed possible... and as he warns us as the movie begins, this will be the last and most memorable lesson he has learned from his father.A touching tale made up of childhood memories, Kamchatka tells the story of a middle-class couple in Argentina in the mid-70s, during the military dictatorship that horrified and scarred the country. One day, without warning, the couple take their two children to an abandoned house, desperately trying to escape. But of course, the children understand nothing of this - instead they are forced to leave their lives behind and even change their names. The movie cleverly focuses on the older of the two boys, Harry (who actually names himself after Harry Houdini), and suggests the horrors of the period through subtle (and sometimes not so subtle) metaphors, sometimes with a sense of humor you wouldn´t expect for this type of pictures.The good thing about "Kamchatka" is that it is not a history lesson - you never know exactly what the parents (and the other people that come and go into the children´s lives) did to be hiding, but it doesn´t really matter. What matter is that the film accurately portrays the heartbreaking situation of a man and a woman who do not know if they´ll live to see their children grow, and are still strong enough to fight back and try to smile for them. We don´t know what they did when they left the house every day. We don´t know what happened to their friends and co-workers. We don´t even learn their real names - like so many of the "desaparecidos", they are the anonymous victims of a goverment that almost destroyed a country. We only see the couple through the innocent - but oddly wise - eyes of their children.Ricardo Darin and Cecilia Roth have once again proved with this movie that they are some of the best actors in Argentina right now - I´ve seen them both in more demanding roles, mind, and this is far from being their best performances... and yet they are both believable and their chemistry with the children is perfect. Director Ricardo Piñeyro knows what he is doing, and it shows: with this type of material it is dangerously easy to fall into the trap of making a cheap melodrama, and yet he manages (for the most part) to avoid making the picture overly sentimental or manipulative. Kamchatka may not be a perfect film, but it´s heart-felt and beautifully filmed.For viewers who wish to know more about this dark time in Argentina´s history, you may rent the excellent Oscar-winning "The Official Story".

Marcelo Piñeyro reveals all his quality in this touching story. Darin and Roth are a couple that have to escape from the dictatorship from Argentina, and in this run they must leave all their lives back. Who most suffer this lost are their childrens. The film is touching and emotive. The two child are excellente!!!