The tragedies of the families involved made the subject of several films. However, one of the most interesting on this theme is Cautiva, a 2004 foreign film which depicts the drama of a young girl whose destiny is affected by the actions of the Condor Operation. However, in fact, the story represents a symbolic image of the way in which Argentine manages to cope with its communist and totalitarian past. The story revolves around a fifteen-year-old teenager who discovers that the persons she has been living with her entire life are her adoptive family. More importantly however is the fact that the government is the element which allows her to discover that, by matching her blood tests with that of her real parents. In real life Argentina, such stories are becoming more and more often due in part to the official desire of the government to restore negative effects of the Condor Operation. Still, taking into account the fact that little has been actually achieved in the years since the massive killings took place, it is rather hard to believe that the stories which have unfolded since the middle of the 70s will be given a happy end.
The struggle of the heroine can be said to depict the actual struggle of the Argentinean state with its own past. Indeed, it is a political film because there are several symbolic references made in this sense. Thus, the fact that it is the government which gives her the news of the existence of her real parents can be interpreted as a...
The heroin is thus in a continuous search for her place in the world, as the government imposes her to stay with her natural parents, thus sealing again her destiny. Another significant aspect of the film can be considered to be the actual job of her adoptive father. Thus, he was implicated in the separation of the girl from her parents. Thus, it can be said that the government played a role in their lives then in the same way as it played in her teenage life. However, nowadays, the current government, similar to the adoptive father, is trying to put the issues right and annul the results of the Condor Operation.
Overall, it can be concluded that the events which took place in the 70s represented an important moment in the history of many Latin American countries. The impact of the Condor Operation was so big that its effects are visible to this day.
Works Cited
Gotkine, Elliott. "Vital rights ruling in Argentina." BBC. 2004. 30 April 2008 http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/3596316.stm
McSherry, J. Patrice. "Tracking the Origins of a State Terror Network: Operation Condor" Latin American Perspectives, 2002, Vol. 29, No. 1, pp. 38-60.
Mcsherry, Patrice. "Operation Condor: Clandestine Inter-American System." Social Justice, Vol. 26, 1999.
