John Harris Talks to Actress Barbara Lombardo and Director Gaston Biraben of Cautiva Photos of Lombardo and Biraben by Mary Blanco Film Still Courtesy of Cautiva

Gaston Biraben's Cautiva opened in New York on Nov. 12 at the Cinema Village (it has since closed so you will need to look for it at netflix).  It is a thought provoking film about the politics of the Argentine Junta of the late 1970's as well as the story of one young woman whose parents were part of the thirty thousand political dissidents who simply "disappeared.”

Here is my review of the film:

Gaston Biraben’s
Cautiva

Starring: Bárbara Lombardo; Susana Campos; Hugo Arana; Osvaldo Santoro; Noemí Frenkel; Lidia Catalano; Mercedes Funes; Silvia Baylé; Luis Gianneo.

In some of our bleakest childhood moments, many of us have wondered, "Where did I really come from?" In the beginning of Gaston Biraben’s Cautiva , a young Argentinean woman celebrates her fifteenth birthday at an emotional gathering of family and friends. Soon afterwards, she is summoned by her Catholic school principal and told she must meet with a mysterious Argentinean judge. For children, there is no habeas corpus, no constitutional rights. They are compelled to do what they are told. When she asks to speak with her parents, she is told that will not be permitted until she speaks with the judge. A shattering secret awaits her which will completely change her life.

Cautiva is a film with subtle moral complexity There are two kidnappings committed upon Cristina (played by the incandescent Barbara Lombardo in her first feature film role), one by her adoptive parents when she was an infant and then the legal “return” kidnapping by her grandmother and the judge when she is fifteen. The Judge (played by Hugo Arana) tries to explain why he has committed this legal "kidnapping" and is returning her to her biological Grandmother. Her "parents" are not to know where she is going, he explains. He must go about his business furtively and in time she will come to understand why.

Cristina is turned over to her grandmother (played by Susana Campos) and her name is changed back to Sofia Lombardi. Slowly she begins to unravel the mystery of her past, going through an initial stage of denial, then anger, then finally acceptance of the fact that her own parent’s death may be in part attributable to the adoptive parents that she grew up loving.

All the actors give excellent performances in a morality tale told in shades of gray. Inspired by the book by Rita Arditti, “Searching For Life. The Grandmothers Of The Plaza De Mayo And The Disappeared Children Of Argentina,” Mr. Biraben has crafted a thought provoking cautionary tale on the abuse of power, and ultimately, on the nature of evil itself. There is no black and white in Mr. Biraben's universe, just an endless array of choices. The timing of the release of this film, considering the overwhelming results of our recent elections, should give us all pause to think.

Cautiva opened Friday November 10, 2006 at Cinema Village, 22 East 12th Street. Early in the day of the opening, I had the opportunity to talk to Barbara Lombardo (she plays Cristina in the film) and Gaston Biraben (the director).

John Harris: How did you become the star of Cautiva?

Barbara Lombardo:  When I finished high school, it had somehow been decided that I would become a lawyer.  A very good lawyer.

John Harris: You weren't fifteen years old like the character in the movie?

Barbara Lombardo

Barbara Lombardo:  No, I was twenty one when I got the part in Cautiva.  Anyway, somehow I ended up working in a bank right after high school.  During this time I decided to study acting.  I went to acting school for a couple of years and felt good with it.  I worked very hard.  Chekhov especially became very important for me.  It found something very emotional for me.

John Harris: You were in the Che' Guevara biopic "Motorcycle diaries"?

Barbara Lombardo:  I was.  Most of my part did not end up in the film. 

Gaston Biraben

John Harris to Gaston Biraben:  This [the day she is returned] is the worst day of this young woman's life.  How did you approach getting this wonderful performance from Barbara?

Gaston Biraben:  How would you feel?  You find out that you aren't the person you thought you were?  Barbara was very intuitive and she knew how to grab those things and I let her go.  I should point out that I had to take a different approach with Barbara as opposed to the rest of the cast who were all experienced professionals.  They could apply their emotions in a more rational manner.  I encouraged Barbara to use her intuition freely.

Barbara Lombardo:  We talked a lot.

John Harris: Did you improvise?

Gaston Biraben:  There was a mix.  We did some rehearsals.  We did a lot of work before shooting.  And then at some point...we thought it was alright.  Especially in terms of the placement of the cameras.  There were certain things I needed to define, based on performance.  I'm not a camera person per se.  First camera was to be here(indicating), for sure, before anything is done.  I have to see how it works. How the dynamics of the scene takes place.  Then I can determine the camera.  Mostly I work the actors through the scene until we are satisfied and then we place the camera

John Harris: [I heard that] Barbara was a last minute replacement?

Gaston Biraben:  The person who was originally chosen for Barbara's part dropped out of the project to accept a TV role.  So we had two weeks to either suspend production or find a replacement.  My casting director told me about this student.  She gave me a tape of Barbara, who I decided to interview.  She sold me immediately.  You can imagine the urgency we faced.  She had to carry the film and I knew this.  At the same time I had to see how she would interact with the other actors. 

John Harris: I would like to ask you about the footage of the world cup and the Henry Kissinger "cameo".

Gaston Biraben:  Who shot that?  The military.  The footage belonged to the military dictatorship.  What was Kissinger doing down there?  During the Carter administration?  Certainly not representing Carter.  He was representing Chase bank and other banks.  After the democratic process was restored, the footage became the property of the government television - Channel 7.  It’s not like NBC owned it.  It took us a long time to get permission to review the footage.  After a long drawn out process we got the okay.  You have half an hour to choose ten minutes of footage.  Half hour tops!  When I saw Henry Kissinger I said, yes!, we will use this.

John Harris: There is a scene in the film where Barbara is looking at some newspaper clippings that seem to indicate some involvement of the CIA with the Junta.  Did you get drawn into this...not just on an emotional level but a political level?

Gaston Biraben: The story had to go beyond the emotional aspect.  I felt like I had to do this.  Who was responsible for this?  On the other hand, I did not want to make it a political movie.  This was a young woman's adventure.  I needed to maintain the direction of the film.  So at one point, Boom, I gave them the scene with the clippings. 

John Harris: Are you working on any projects at the moment?

Gaston Biraben:  I'm working on a script about Emily Dickinson.

Many thanks to Barbara Lombardo and Gaston Biraben for talking to New York Cool.