The Films Official Story and Innocent Voices as a Compelling and Important Story - Essay Example

Introduction Latin America has historically been a region that has endured a lot of upheaval, such as civil wars and military coups. However, thesestories are not always attended to by those who do not reside in these countries. There is just so much upheaval throughout the world, that it seems like all the conflicts resemble one another. However, these conflicts must be differentiated for people to care. This is where movies regarding these conflicts come in. These movies, such as Salvador, Innocent Voices, and Official Story all have messages that resonate with the viewing audience. Salvador and Innocent Voices focus upon the Salvadoran civil war in 1980, and each film puts its focus on a different aspect of these wars. Salvador tells the story of the war as seen through the eyes of a jaded photojournalist from America. Innocent Voices tells the story through the eyes of a child who might be conscripted to fight the war. Therefore, in viewing both of these films, with two radically different perspectives, one gets a sense for what the war is about and the atrocities that are involved in this conflict. Official Story tells the story of the Argentina “dirty war” that occurred after a military coup in 1976. The point of view of this story is different from the other two, however, as there are no battle scenes and the war itself does not take center stage. Rather, the power of this film lies in how one family is caught in the crosshairs of this conflict, and are forced into horrible choices that no family should ever have to make. Each film, in its way, explicates a larger story that must be told about these conflicts, albeit in three different ways and with three different perspectives. Each film is important, because these stories must be told and, by involving the audience in the intimate portraits of innocent people, the populace at large is made to care about these stories because the audience is made to care about the individual characters. Therefore, each film is important in getting these message out there, even if each film has a different way of doing so. Analysis Three Movies: Salvador, Innocent Voices and Official Story The three movies are different in many ways, yet they all have something in common. What is striking about Official Story is that the film deals in subtelties. The drama in this movie is subtle, as are the characterizations. Alicia moves from a naïve woman who is, by her own admission, old-fashioned, who does not know about the horrors that are going around her, to a woman who slowly learns the truth – that her daughter might have been forcibly taken from a woman who is a victim of the Argentina dirty war and became one of the many missing. Through it all, there are subtle changes to her appearance – she goes from wearing her hair in a very old-fashioned bun, to letting it hang loose, which suggests her shift from an old-fashioned woman who chooses not to see the brutality inherent in this war to a more conscious and aware woman whose conscience will not her continue to keep the little girl without questioning the little girl’s origins. Her friend Ana is similarly fleshed out, as different sides are shown of her. Ana is at once a smart, tart-tongued woman who has a great sense of wry humor, while covering up the awful pain that she felt when she was kidnapped, tortured and raped by the military Junta. Hector, Alicia’s husband, is by far the most flawed character. He is closely aligned with the Junta, and believes in the Junta’s mission and, therefore, is adamantly against the “subversives”. He physically attacks Alicia when she sends Gaby to visit Alicia’s mother without telling him. Yet, there is even humanity to Hector, as he is shown towards the end getting emotional talking to his daughter on the phone, and there is an undercurrent of desperation in the character, which is not the characteristic of a typical bandido. Salvador is much more broadly drawn than Official Story, as it captures the action of the war and the brutality of the battles. There are many scenes of fighting and carnage, as well as point blank assassinations. However, it is arguably not as effective as Official Story in telling its story because the characters are not as well developed as those in Official Story, and one does not get to see the evolution of thought behind the main characters. Salvador is really a completely different story from Official Story, as it deals much more with the war at large and much less with the psychological turmoil through which the people that are involved in these wars go through. The reasons behind the war, as well as an indictment of the United States involvement in this war are fleshed out in a better way than with Official Story. Where Official Story does not really go so much into the politics of situation, except for the scenes where Alicia is teaching her class, and the boys in her class bring in stories that illustrate what the war is about, Salvador is much more explicit with this aspect of the historical background. And, because Official Story involves the “dirty war” which was not really a war, per se, so much as it is a case of the military taking people in the middle of the night and kidnapping them, there is not as much of a explication that can be drawn as there is with Salvador. If Salvador relies upon the action and carnage to tell its story, and Official Voices relies upon the portrait of a family in turmoil because of the political events around them, Innocent Voices mediates between the two. Innocent Voices has much in common with both Salvador and with Official Story. Like Salvador, Innocent Voices relies upon the Salvadoran Civil War as a backdrop to the story. Like Official Story, Innocent Voices focuses on a family that is impacted by this war. So, Innocent Voices is at once a small story, like Official Story and a large story, like Salvador. Both Innocent Voices and Salvador feature scenes of violence, degradation, and carnage. Innocent Voices has a more powerful message, however, as it involves the drafting of children to fight in the war. So, it could be argued that Salvador by focusing on the impact that this war had on adults, two of whom are down in El Salvador because they need money and seem to crave adventure, has less of an impact on the human consciousness than Innocent Voices, because the protagonists who are caught up in the war in Innocent Voices are children, who possess the innocent voices of the title. Innocent Voices is told through the perspective of those who are innocent and victims of what is going on around them. The main character, Chava, is only 11 when the movie begins. He is fatherless, and living in a town that is being heavily fought over. As the military recruits twelve-year-olds, Chava is nearing the age when he might be recruited. Chava falls in love with a girl named Christina Maria, whose house ends up being burned down and Christina flees, which causes Chava to try to join the guerrillas. In the end, Chava almost gets shot by the military, but is saved by the guerrillas. When he tries to get home, his mother’s house was burned down, and his mother decides to send Chava abroad to save his life. Similarly, Official Story involves innocents, of sorts, with the possible exception of Hector, who is shown to have close ties to the Junta that is in the middle of the story. Alicia, the main protagonist is an innocent, even if one could possibly argue that she practiced willful blindness. Alicia was shown at the beginning of the show to be somebody who either did not know about the Junta and the dirty war, or preferred to shut her eyes to what is going on around her. In light of how she treated the student in her class who spoke up about the Junta and their brutal tactics, the most likely scenario is the latter interpretation. However, either way, Alicia did not really know about the Junta and what was going on. It was only through talking with Ana, a good friend from way back, that Alicia came to understand that there were many missing people and that children were forcibly taken away from these political “subversives”. So, this is what compelled Alicia to do the right thing. Ana is also an innocent. She was kidnapped, raped and tortured by the Junta because she was involved with a man named Pedro who was allegedly a dissident, but she had not seen this man in four years. Therefore, she had no information to tell the Junta and suffered all she did for no reason. Gaby, the child, is definitely an innocent. Gaby was apparently taken away from her mother when her mother disappeared at the hands of the Junta. Therefore, the film is told through the perspective of those who did not do anything wrong, yet were made to suffer at the hands of the military Junta. On the other hand, Salvador’s protagonists are not innocent voices, but mercenaries of sorts. Especially Boyle, the main character, who goes to El Salvador because he is a down-on-his-luck photojournalist. Boyle wants to go down to El Salvador for the money it will bring for his pictures, as well as the fame and notoriety he will get by shooting these images. His friend, Dr. Rock, only goes along because Boyle tricks him, saying that they are heading for Guatemala, and not telling Dr. Rock until the last second where they are actually heading. The main perspective, then, is a man who is getting involved with the war for the fame, money and notoriety, not for any noble cause. His story, and his point of view, is therefore arguably less powerful than the point of view of the individuals who are caught up in a war through no fault of their own, who cannot get out of what is going on, who did not choose to be in the middle of these wars, and are truly innocent voices. Therefore, each of these films derive their power from a different set of circumstances. Official Story’s power is derived from the fact that Alicia, who has grown to love Gaby as her own, must question Gaby’s origins and wrestle with whether or not to give Gaby to her birth grandmother. She is therefore caught up in a situation where there are no easy answers, and she is put in this position because of the evil that is occurring around her, evil that she can no longer ignore. Innocent Voices derives its power by making the protagonist a child, and by showing the atrociousness of using children for the purposes of war. Chava is also caught up in a situation that he did not choose, and suffers through unspeakable horrors that no child should have to face, yet does it with bravery. One is led to believe that, since Chava has never known anything but hardships, war and death, he handles himself in a mature way when faced with the prospect of going to war himself. This is a message in itself, for the message is that Chava never got a true childhood. Salvador’s power comes through the murder of the innocents – the priest, Maria’s brother, Cathy Moore – martyrs all. However, as these are minor characters, and the major character is shown to be a bit of a sleaze who does survive the war, the movie is considerably less powerful than the others. Why these movies are important, how these small stories illustrate the larger story, and why these stories must be told These movies are important, as are all movies that feature stories from the various wars and revolutions that are occurring in the Latin world. Official Story is a moving portrait that keeps the viewers’ attention, and makes the viewer care about what is happening. By showing the intimate portrait of a family who is caught in the middle of the Junta dirty war, juxtaposed with the throngs of protestors who are looking for their missing relatives, as well as with the students who are studying the history of Argentina with Alicia, this small, intimate story has a lot to say about what was going on in Argentina during this time. And, by showing how the war affected a small group of people, the dirty war itself comes to life, as we see the war through the protagonists’ eyes. By showing the pain in Gaby’s grandmother’s eyes, and the slow awakening of Alicia to the truth about her adopted daughter, along with the moving scene with Ana, the viewer comes to care about the war and about the people affected by the war. Salvador, for all its flaws, is a similarly important movie. It’s important because it is a Hollywood film with big stars and a big name director. Therefore, it presumably has access to a wider audience than would a small movie like Official Story. Like Official Story, Salvador attempts to reduce a large incident by showing the effect of the war on a small group of people. Salvador is full of bloody action, as people are raped and murdered, enormous bloody fights break out in the streets, Maria’s young brother is murdered, and a priest is murdered at the altar. Through it all, the protagonists are involved, and their small stories presumably illuminate the larger one, which is the civil war in El Salvador during the early 1980s. Although it was not as successful as Official Story, simply because the characters were not fleshed out enough for the viewer to care about them, it nevertheless manages to gets its point across, which was that the civil war in El Salvador was a brutal, bloody affair. Innocent Voices is important because many people do not really know about the practice of using children to fight in wars, and what these children go through. This is a new topic for a great many people in the world, who assume that, because their civilized country would never dream of drafting 12 year old children to fight in the military, that this practice does not occur. Innocent Voices shows that this practice does occur, and that these children go through just as much hell as any adult would go through. The larger story involves a grim reality - children in conflicted countries are often maimed, killed, imprisoned and made to submit to sexual violence. (Aeschlimann, 2005, p. 2). By telling the story through the eyes of a young boy, the audience is transported to a world where that young boy may soon be asked to fight for his country. At a time when, in other countries, a boy would be playing basketball, going to parties and playing video games, Chava is being faced with being forced to fight in a war, and ends up almost being shot because of his attempt to join the guerrillas. This is a small story that illustrates the larger point about child conscription, and why it is wrong to conscript children. At the same time, this small story also tells the larger story about how families everywhere are affected by the civil war in El Salvador, as this particular family is literally torn apart – the father is gone, Chava ends up having to leave the country, the mother becomes homeless when her house burns down. This story is probably typical of families who are involved in this civil war, so, by showing this family’s plight, the larger story of family disintegration in the war is told. Making these films and telling these stories are important, because the average consciousness is not focused on the plight of people in foreign lands. There is so much evil in the world, so much oppression and war all around the world that people get fatigued from it all. There is just so much to attend to that a lot of important events and stories get tuned out. And, when people tune out, the killing and evil go on unabated, because good men are doing nothing, and this is all that it takes for evil to flourish. Therefore, these movies shine a light on what is going on, and makes the viewer sit up and take notice. Some viewers, never hearing of the Argentina dirty war, will watch Official Story and understand more about this war and the effect it had on everyday citizens. Other viewers, watching Salvador will see how bloody and brutal that fight is, as well as understand the United States role in propping up the right wing military. Still other viewers, not realizing that children are fighting in wars around the world, can watch Innocent Voices and realize that this a practice that occurs, and that families are torn apart by the war. Therefore, it is important that these stories and other stories like them get told, so that people can be better informed about their world, and, these movies might encourage people to take action to make sure that these events do not happen in the future. Because of this, these stories need to be kept alive and filmmakers need to keep revisiting these stories so that they never fade from the public consciousness. As an example of why these stories should be told, one can see what can occur when the public’s consciousness is raised. For instance, Innocent Voices raises the specter of child conscription. This story, and countless stories like it led the United Nations, in 2000, to adopt the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the Involvement of Children in Armed Conflict. Prior to the Optional Protocol, there at least 20 states who militarily trained children ages 10 through 18, and 25 states that permitted children to go to war before they were old enough to vote, and there were up to 200,000 child soldiers in the world. (Van Bueren, 1994, p. 813). During the negotiations for the Optional Protocol, nations were presented with evidence that persons below the age of 18 were being forced, at gunpoint, to become combatants in some 28 on-going conflicts. (Dennis, 2000, p. 792). The Optional Protocol protects child combatants, like Chava’s friends who are shown being conscripted. This is one example of what can happen if people’s consciousness is raised by these atrocities, so it is important that these stories are continually told. Conclusion Despite the fact that stereotypes exist and that stories are often told stereotypically, the films Official Story and Innocent Voices manage to avoid the stereotypes to tell a compelling and important story. These stories show how innocent victims are caught up in wars that they did not ask for, do not want, do not really understand and cannot avoid. Salvador, while being less successful in avoiding stereotypes, nevertheless packs power in its message by showing innocent victims in the crossfire of the war. These stories are stories that need to be continually told so that they are burned into the public consciousness, which might be an impetus for worldwide action to help these individuals. Without these stories, people would not really be aware of the nature of these wars, and awareness is important. Sources Used Aeschlimann, A. 2005, “The Convention on the Rights of the Child in the 21st Century: Securing Rights for Children in an Age of Uncertainty”, 4th World Congress on Family Law and Childrens Rights, Cape Town, South Africa, pp. 1-8. Berg, Charles Ramirez. Latino Images in Film. Austin, TX: University of Texas Press, 2002. Dennis, M. 2000, “Newly Adopted Protocols to the Convention on the Rights of the Child”, The American Journal of International Law, vol. 94, no. 4, pp. 789-796. Innocent Voices. Dir. Luis Madoki. Perf. Carlos Padilla, Leonor Varela, Xuna Primus. 2004. DVD. 20th Century Fox, 2004. Official Story. Dir. Luis Puenzo. Perf. Norma Aleandro, Hector Alterio and Chunchuna Villafane. 1985. DVD. Koch Lorber, 2004. Rodriguez, Clara E. Latin Looks: Images of Latinas and Latinos in U.S. Media. New York, NY: Westview Press, 1997. Salvador. Dir. Oliver Stone. Perf. James Woods, James Belushi, John Savage, Michael Murphy, Elpedia Carrillo, Cynthia Gibb. 1985. DVD. MGM Home Entertainment, 2001. Van Bueren, G. 1994, “The International Legal Protection of Children in Armed Conflicts”, The International and Comparative Law Quarterly, vol. 43, no. 4, pp. 809-826. Read More