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Very very predictable, including the post credit scene !!!

The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.

The movie is surprisingly subdued in its pacing, its characterizations, and its go-for-broke sensibilities.

All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.

Director Benjamín Ávila's acknowledgment and thanks at the end came as such a surprise because the film he just made showed the opposite of said intentions. The film, set in 1979 Argentina, is about a boy who's forced to use a different identity for his and his parents and Uncle's safety. These parents and his uncle are part of the resistance, whose one of the chants are "Perón or death", and really mean said words. The film is relentless, definitely in a bad way, and manages to be unnecessarily long, bogged down with story lines about first love and "girls are like chocolates" metaphors. A better movie would have committed to the child's POV, using cinematography to always see things from his point of view. But that was not the case here. The film tries to center other characters that in the end it doesn't quite serve any of them well enough. And back to my first sentence, instead of the film being a successful homage to the people of resistance back in that era, I found myself thinking they were really bad parents, too blind to the cause to make decisions that wouldn't endanger their children.

For so many of us the governmental complexities that seem to occur with regularity in South America never seem to be clear. CLANDESTINE CHILDHOOD ('Infancia clandestine') offers the opportunity to not only be informed about the machinations of such movements, but also allows us entry into the personal view of the changes that political events impact so powerfully on the citizens.Benjamín Ávila who wrote (with Marcelo Müller) and directed this brilliant little film is sharing his experiences of living through the times that his story relates. The year is 1979 and an Argentinean family who have been exiled in Cuba return to Argentina as Montoneros - a guerrilla group fighting against the military junta that controlled Argentina from 1976 to 1983. In a coup on March 24, 1976, a military junta seized power in Argentina and went on a campaign to wipe out left-wing terrorism with terror far worse than the one they were combating. Between 1976 and 1983 - under military rule - thousands of people, most of them dissidents and innocent civilians unconnected with terrorism, were arrested and then - los desaparecidos. The father Horacio (César Troncoso) and mother Cristina (the incredibly beautiful Uruguayan actress Natalia Oreiro), baby girl Vicki, and 12 year old son Juan are forced to change their names and hide from the authorities so that the guerrilla warfare can be accomplished. There is one other member of the family - Uncle Beto (Ernesto Alterio) - who seems to be the most solid tie between Juan (now called 'Ernesto') and his family's condition.'Ernesto' enters school, discovers Maria (Violeta Palukas) and from there the story becomes more one of a blossoming love than a country under military control. But the fear and eventual capture of Ernesto's family brings an end to a precious little love story: Ernesto must leave with the remaining members of his family and go to live with his grandmother Amalia (Cristina Banegas). Juan/Ernesto's childhood has become a clandestine one.The film is well acted and directed but most important it offers us a view of the conditions of living in Argentina during that dark cloud of Los Desaparecidos. It is a powerful yet very tender document about the effect of war on us all - but especially on children.Grady Harp

Infancia Clandestina is a very touching movie. This review is written by an Argentinian so I felt it as a very interesting film in terms of script and acting, but more interesting as a historical testimony of our "dark ages" in terms of dictatorship and guerrilla. It would be fair to write the review in Spanish in order to put my feelings properly, but IMDb is mostly an English language site so I want to give other people from foreign countries my point of view with the little English I speak.From my perspective, the movie is accurately told in terms of storyline. I would recommend it as a documentary, because Benjamín Avila relived his own experience on this movie, and because most of the facts really happened (with the names changed and that sort of thing). The fact that underlines the tragic story of Juan/Ernesto, is that he is, as a child, forced to live in a world of fear, constantly missing what we think a normal childhood should be. His parents are loving ones but put him in abnormal situations in terms of caring for their livings and raise their children in those violent conditions. In fact, the story of the 70's here was that fearful and violent. You are obliged to take a part in the story. That's what the film left me. It's a thought- provoking one. And asks a lot of questions more than it tells answers. Ernesto Alterio (very good in his role) as Tío Beto is the bond of Juan/Ernesto to a happy childhood; but even with knowing how his life could end from one moment to another, tried to remind Juan/Ernesto and the rest of the family, those little moments of humanity that could have been forgotten in the middle of tragedy. There is plenty of humanity, but that feeling is volatile and more close to self-indulgence than true happiness, knowing the curse of events.On the other hand, the guiding line of Juan/Ernesto's family is that he 'd become one of their "soldiers" when he'd grown up. Rootless, full of hate for losing one by one his loved ones, Juan/Ernesto becomes an adult from one day to another. But this review is not complete if I don't give you a personal opinion of the whole situation. Ideologies, partidisms, dogma, they all conceived death as a part of them. During the movie I often compared the situation with Islamic children (or whoever is forced to live in war since a child). They are children, and they are manipulated taking part on massacres, kidnaps, war and dismemberance of their families. They are brutally witnessing the grown-ups stupidity, the absurd sacrifice. Yes, it was absurd then and it's absurd now. And that's the thing with the title of this review. Even a kid could realize the barbarism, the destruction of life that is presented in the movie. Unfortunately there is little room for choice. I'm not in position to judge the events since I was born after the dictatorship. I'm a son of democracy (whatever that means) and those stories are told to me, but fortunately I didn't have to live those tragic times. But I feel sorry for those kids who had a sad childhood and couldn't choose for a better life. And I blame the dictatorship as well as the contraire ideologies that put them in those awful and despicable situations. Coming back to the movie, it's a must. Even if you're not Argentinian. It's beautiful and a bit surrealistic. And it makes you think that some things can never be repeated for our children's sake.Greetings from Argentina!

Clandestine Childhood is a coming of age story with a difference. As the title suggests, it is growing up under secrecy. The film is set in 70's Argentina where the military junta rules the country and opposition groups are clandestinely active. We follow a 12 year old son of one of these revolutionary couples who is growing up under a cloud of secrecy to protect the identity of his parents. The boy is a normal child who wants to invite his friends home, have a girlfriend and all that but can not do so due to the risk of exposing his parents who are wanted by the military dictatorship.The politics and the history, though ever present, are kept firmly in the background and the film focuses on the boy's story. The fact that the film is based partly on the director's own childhood, and specially knowing (as he told the audience after a screening) that his mother was one of the "disappeared" during that era, makes the film very poignant. An added bonus is the great music in the film.