Documentaries and politics in post-dictatorship Argentina: Cuarentena: Exilio y regreso and Juan, como si nada hubiera sucedido by Carlos Echeverría

Abstract

While much has been written about Argentine political documentary during the 1960s and 1970s, less has been said about post-dictatorship political documentaries. This article will consider the films Cuarentena. Exilio y regreso (1983) and Juan, como si nada hubiera sucedido (1987) by Carlos Echeverría, one of those independent filmmakers focused on the return to democracy and reflections on the recent past. Cuarentena. Exilio y regreso is about Osvaldo Bayer´s experiences and fervent desire to return to his homeland. Osvaldo Bayer is an Argentine writer who was exiled in Germany. Juan, como si nada hubiera sucedido is one of the most important Argentine films of the last thirty years as it is among the first documentary works to address the subject of the forced disappearance of people during the last military dictatorship. The film contains interviews with military officers who held high positions during the period, asking them about the role they played in political disappearances.