Last week I had the chance to pose a few questions to Argentinean director Fabián Hofman, who's poignant film, Te Extraño, will screen at the 2010 Starz Denver Film Festival. The film follows two brothers, adolescent Javier and his older, politically involved brother, Adrian. Based on Hofman's real life story during Argentina's military dictatorship of the 1970s, the plot takes a turn when Adrian, like 30,000 others during the 'Dirty War', disappears.
A special thanks to Sr. Hofman for agreeing to this interview. (Follows in Spanish)
Rebecca Caro: What would you like an American audience, who may know little of Argentina's history during the 1970s, to know before viewing your film?
Fabián Hofman: That the film narrates, apart from the intense relationship between two adolescent brothers, the void that the older brother's disappearance leaves in the life of the younger brother's.
From this absence, the movie alternates between questioning political ideas from the 70s generation with an autobiographic look that gives the film an emotive nature unusual in movies like this, where the political theme pushes intimacy to a less important dimension.
In contrast, in Te Extraño the private world grows before the political, that even without losing its power, it turns into a desolate environment of a story of brotherly love. And the struggle to bring to light the terrible admiration that Javi feels for his missing brother, the terrible pain of losing him, the denial of his death first and the acceptance afterwards: the path to his maturity.
Te Extraño is, then, a labor in the direction of one's own identity with lights and shadows. The endearment, the perplexity, and the pain of growing up, intermingled with the look at a world that expands and contacts without end. One point of view--that of an adolescent in a premature exile--that cinema rarely exposes.
RC: Which elements of your film come from your life, and how is your personal experience different?
FH: "He should have gone to Mexico, should have escaped to save his neck, should have survived. He had a vision of the world and knew what he would have to do to change it. He bit his nails and was athsmatic. He always put his life to the limit, that's what we all miss, and he has left an irreparable void in the family.
But Adrian wasn't me...my name is Javier. Adrian was my brother...I miss him."
In the film Adrian was in real life Gerardo, the film version of Javier was the real life Fabián.
RC: Jews were disproportionately persecuted during the Dirty War, do you think this was for political reasons, or anti-semitism?
Que le gustaria que la audiencia de Estados Unidos, que tal vez sabe poco de la historia argentina durante la decada del 70, sepa antes de ver su pelicula?
Que la película narra, a partir de la intensa relación de dos hermanos adolescentes, el vacío que deja la desaparición del mayor en la vida del menor.
A partir de esa ausencia, la película alterna el cuestionamiento a los ideales políticos de la generación de los setenta con una mirada autobiográfica que dota al filme de una emotividad inusual en películas que abordan esta temática, comúnmente desplazadas por la dimensión política, como si ésta expulsara la intimidad a una dimensión menor.
Contrariamente, en Te Extraño el mundo privado crece ante el político que, aun sin perder su poder, se convierte en el entorno desolado de una historia de amor fraternal. Y lo que pugna por salir a la luz es la admiración terrible que Javi siente por su hermano desaparecido, la terrible pena por su pérdida, la negación de su muerte primero y la aceptación después: el camino hacia su adultez.
Te Extraño es, entonces, un parto hacia la identidad propia con sus luces y sombras. La ternura, la perplejidad y el dolor de crecer, entremezclados con la mirada de un mundo que se ensancha y contrae sin cesar. Un punto de vista –el de un adolescente en el exilio precoz- que el cine raramente expuso.
Que elementos de la historia de su film vienen de su vida, y como is su experiencia personal diferente?
“Él debió haberse ido a México; haberse escapado para salvar el cuello, haber sobrevivido. Tenía una visión del mundo y sabía lo que tenía que hacerse para cambiarlo. Se mordía las uñas y era asmático. Siempre puso su vida al límite, es al que todos extrañan y el que ha dejado un vacío irreparable en la familia.
Pero Adrián no era yo… mi nombre es Javier. Adrián era mi hermano… lo extraño.”
En la película Adrián en la vida real Gerardo, en vida película Javi, en la vida real Fabián.
Los judios fueron desproporcionadamente perseguidos durante la guerra sucia; usted piensa que esto fue por razones politicas o fue anti-semitismo?
Algunos grupos, como las madres de plaza de mayo, atrajeron la atencion a esta causa. Que piensa sobre lo que se esta haciendo hoy en Argnetina para reunir familias y recuperar identidades?
Very interesting and informative interview. Thank you for sharing it with us and I will definitely keep an eye open for the film.
Paz
Posted by: Paz | November 07, 2010 at 12:45 PM