Figli/Hijos (2001)

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A young man finds his family history thrown into question in this politically charged drama. Javier Ramos (Carlos Echevarria) is the teenaged son of an Argentinean exile living in Italy (Enrique Pineyro) -- or so he's been led to believe. Recently, Javier has been receiving strange e-mail messages from Rosa (Giulia Sarano), a woman from Buenos Aires who claims to be his twin sister, even though he's never met her. Javier isn't sure what to make of Rosa's messages, but when she arrives unannounced at his family's doorstep, his father's reaction leads him to suspect there's a certain amount of truth in her story. Rosa tells Javier that her mother was a political prisoner in Argentina during the 1970s, when thousands of opponents of the nation's military government simply "disappeared." After Javier was born in a prison hospital, he was given to a pilot who flew with the Argentinean Air Force and disposed of murdered dissidents by throwing their bodies into the ocean. The doctors at the prison were not aware that Javier's mother was carrying twins; after Javier was born, Rosa soon followed, and her mother was able to smuggle her out of the hospital before the authorities were the wiser. As Javier awaits the results of a DNA test that will determine if he and Rosa truly are related, he wonders how much of her story is true and how much is imagined -- and if she is telling the truth, does that make his father a criminal, or a soldier who simply followed orders? Figli/Hijos was directed by Marco Bechis, who previously examined the tragedy of Argentina's "desaparecidos" in his film Garage Olimpo. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

Complete Cast:

Director(s):

Marco Bechis

Writer(s):

Lara Fremder, Marco Bechis

Producer(s):

Vittorio Cecchi Gori, Amedeo Pagani

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• 2001 - Figli/Hijos - Venice International Film Festival - Cinema for Peace Award