La Antena (2007) The Aerial
IMDb meta-data is a runtime of 1 hour and 39 minutes, rated 7.3 by 4327 cinematizens
Genre: Sy Fy; Species: Fairy tale.
DNA: Argentina.
Verdict: Olé!
Tagline: Vox populi.
In the dark city no one can speak for progressively their voices and words have been taken from them by an unscrupulous media mogul who uses television to drain the will of people. Sounds contemporary.
Only two voices remain. A coerced singer whose siren song is used to squeeze out the residual words from citizens. She has made a Faustian bargain for her now seven year old son was born without eyes and the coercing magnate has promised her that if she sings to the end he will supply the boy with eyes and that mission is nearing completion. The boy’s is the other voice heard later in the story.
By mistake the package with the eyes is delivered to the wrong address, and this leads to the involvement of a tweenage girl next door and her estranged but ever silent parents, she a nurse and he an inventor. Their wonder when the boy speaks is memorable.
Together the parents overcome their own differences and thwart Rupert but good.
It is a silent movie with a soundtrack, inter-title cards that become part of the action, and marvellous imagery.
Among the critics I read, one, while grudgingly admitting the film’s unique virtuosity, lays into it for privileging the nuclear family. Apart from that inanity, most reviewers see it as a metaphor for oppressive corporatism.
Maybe but it is more likely a metaphorical condemnation of the Dirty War (1976-1983) and the rule of the generals, allied with oligarchs, who suppressed voices and destroyed families, coerced singular individuals to legitimate the regime, and covered up by murdering witnesses. The resonance with these Dark Years would be surely felt by many Argentines, if lost on smug and cosseted Anglo reviewers.