Garage Olimpo (1999)

recommended

This is a must-see and one of the best documentaries - and films - of this year.

There are moments that feel comical, some horrific, and some downright inspiring but the tonal shifts hardly matter as the end results come to a film that's perfect for this time.

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

In the 70's, the eighteen year-old Maria Fabiani (Antonella Costa) lives with her French mother Diane (Dominique Sanda) in an old house in Buenos Aires, subletting rooms and giving classes to illiterate adults in the slums. One of the tenants, Felix (Carlos Echevarría), has a non-corresponded crush on Maria. When the teenager is abducted in her house by the Argentinean army accused of subversion, her mother seeks her out in the 23rd Precinct where one of the military without uniform tells her that they are heading with Maria. While Diane desperately tries to find information about her daughter, Maria is submitted to torture in the hideous underground of the Garage Olimpo. Out of the blue, Felix and she meet each other in the interrogation room and Maria finds that he is one of her torturers. Felix protects Maria the best he can while the prisoner develops the Stockholm Syndrome to her hostage-taker."Garage Olimpo" has just been released on DVD in Brazil and depicts the dark age of Argentina in the late 70's and early 80's (and also in most South America – Brazil, Chile and Uruguay), when the military governments sponsored by the United States of America disrupted the human rights of the civilian societies and promoted coup d'état and takeover, toppling the governments elected by people. In Argentina, the common practice was the torture and subsequent death of the militants that were drugged and then dropped in the sea by military airplanes, with their children given for adoption especially in the period 1976-1983. In Argentina, the unofficial number of missing persons in accordance with Human Rights Organizations is about 30,000 people. In Brazil, the number of people arrested by the military government was between 50,000 and 70,000 and in the present days, after the amnesty that protected mainly the torturers, there are still 140 missing persons. Garage Olimpo shows this procedure through the relationship of Maria with Felix, and also the desperation of her mother. Later, the Argentinean mothers of missing people have become human rights activists and formed the organization "Mothers of the Plaza de Mayo" with the goal of finding their kidnapped children. Therefore, Garage Olimpo is a must-see especially for the youngest generations that might be not aware of the horrors of this period. The Brazilian DVD does not translate the last sentence in the movie accurately. My vote is seven.Title (Brazil): "Garage Olimpo"

Is well known for much the story of the dictatorship in Latin America, specially in the south side. This begin in 1976, and is no more than one of the most embarrassing times for any of this countries. Time where innocent, young and old, people who only fight for its rights were tortured in the most horrible ways, with none rake of hope or life. There some movie which treat this topic, "Garage Olimpo" is one of them, is a movie that don't treat a easy thing, is a film that must fight with memory and with the bloody past of us, the Latin American people."Garage Olimpo" told us the story of María, a beautiful young woman who lives in a big house with her mother and a tenant called Félix in the military dictatorship. She teach to old people and too, with other people, fight against the military repression. One day she is taken by some men and go then to a kind of Garage, hide down earth. She now must live horrible tortures by these men, and one of them is Félix. This is a kind of sipnosis for this hard movie. As a Latin American, "Garage Olimpo" was one of the greatest, if not one of the hardest, experiences of my life. This is not a film for fun, or something like that, you must see it with a clean mind, ready and with no kind of worries, i think every movie must see it in that way.Some of the countries that suffer more this was Argentina, Chile and Urugay, between others. It was a hard moment, bloody and really full of injustice, and now, years after, is a situation that really shame much of us, and "Garage Olimpo" is one that Must See and Must Feel experiences, because make you take on count of a lot of things, and is exactly a prove, a response of a lot of the injustices in this moment. There was in 1986 another movie called "La Noche de los lápices", another masterpiece which treat this topic, also in Argentina, but the difference here, is that "Garage Olimpo" doesn't makes you tremble so much as think and too feel really bad."Garage Olimpo" is a sad experience because shown us a city (This was explained by director Marco Bechis who live too some of this dictatorship) divided in two -You feel this all the time with takes of Buenos Aires at night and at day - : Up, the cars move really normal, the kid play and the grown ups work, all is very normal. At the same time, down, people is abused, is sick and without any chance of see, and no thanks to a blanket which cover their eyes, is because, in middle of darkness, they can't see another future better than suffer and finally death. This film shown us a reality that, unfortunately, is see it here, in Colombia, in Argentina, in Latin America, in all the world."Garage Olimpo" is not only an historical achievement, is too a movie for the memory and hearts for the Latin American. Is a movie that get stuck in your mind telling you that something must to change. This is not a positive film, seeing that kind of things, there's not something positive to say.*Sorry for the mistakes...well, if there any.

It's a film that leaves pretty speechless. The director weaves subtle poetry into a story that is especially shocking because we all know that events that seem so impossible were (and are) tragically true. It's also interesting to read about Bechis' approach and working method (i.e. studio recreation of the "garage" rather than working in a location, use of "real" props, etc.).

If you like the Loach of "Land and Freedom" you'll love this film. Bechis forgot the stillness and the nihilism of Alambrado to direct a touching and tough film on Argentina's regime. A real good movie, I loved it, hope you will too!