Messenger on a White Horse (2017)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Messenger on a White Horse is a documentary film which premiered in 2017.

 

What is the topic of this film? The odd title explains neither the topic nor the place or the time which is covered in this film.

 

The topic is the modern history of Argentina, with special focus on the Dirty War, a dark chapter of Argentine history, which lasted seven years (1976-1983).

 

In 1976, a military junta took control of Argentina’s government. The junta began a brutal campaign against the opposition (so-called subversives).

 

Any person who was (or was assumed to be) on the left wing of the political spectrum was regarded as an enemy. People began to disappear. What was happening?

 

They were kidnapped, interrogated, and often tortured. But there was no official information about them.

 

There was no information about what they had done or where they were. They simply disappeared.

 

Some of them were killed, while many were released after spending time in a prison. It is assumed that up to 30,000 people lost their lives during the so-called Dirty War.

 

In Argentina, there was virtually no protest against this policy, because it was difficult and dangerous to protest against it.

 

Any person who tried to speak out against this policy was likely to suffer the same fate as other dissidents: to be kidnapped and to disappear without a trace.

 

There was, however, one significant exception to the general rule: the mothers and grandmothers of the disappeared began to organize a silent protest every Thursday afternoon in Plaza de Mayo.

 

They wanted to know what had happened to their children and grandchildren. They carried posters with questions: where is my child? Where is my grandchild?

 

Obviously, the junta had the power to arrest them and kill them, but the members of the junta realized that the military government would not look good if soldiers started arresting and killing unarmed women. 

 

This is why this silent protest was tolerated. This is why it was allowed to take place.

 

The British journalist Robert J. Cox happened to be in the middle of this horrible event.

 

In 1976, when the military junta took control of the government, he was the editor of the English language newspaper, the Buenos Aires Herald. He had held this job since 1959.

 

Most journalists and editors knew the junta did not want the disappearances to be covered by the media. This is why the media usually ignored the topic.

 

Cox and his staff did not agree with this line. They felt the topic was serious and had to be covered.

 

They began to report the details of the Dirty War. More precisely, they tried to report what happened. It was not only difficult to cover this topic, because there was no official information. It was also dangerous.

 

Cox knew he placed himself and his family in a dangerous situation. But he could not be silent. And he did not want to leave the country.

 

The family received several death threats. In 1979, when one threat included detailed information about his son, who was only 13 years old, he decided that it was time to leave Argentina. The danger was to high.

 

They moved to the US and stayed there for several years. Cox did not return to Argentina until after the junta had resigned and handed power over to a civilian government.

 

Here is some basic information about this film:

 

** Writer and director: Jayson McNamara

** Language: English and Spanish

** Run time: 102 minutes (long version)

** Run time: 55 minutes (short version)

** This review is based on the short version

 

Several persons are interviewed in the film. 

 

Here are the names of the participants:

 

** Roberto Barreiro – a survivor of the Dirty War

 

** Estella de Carlotto (born 1930) – a human rights activist – President of the Mothers of Plaza de Mayo

 

** Nora Cortiñas (born 1930) – a social psychologist

 

** Maud Cox – wife of Robert Cox

 

** Robert Cox (born 1933) – a journalist – editor of the Buenos Aires Herald 1959-1979

 

** Uki Goñi (born 1953) – a reporter at the Buenos Aires Herald 1975-1983

 

** Andrew Graham-Yooll (1944-2019) – a reporter at the Buenos Aires Herald 1966-1976 and 1994-2007

 

** Chica Mariani (1923-2018) – a human rights activist - founder and second president of the Grandmothers of Plaza de Mayo

 

** Marta Vasquez (1927-2017) – a human rights activist - member of the Mothers of Plaza de Mayo

 

** Pamela Wheaton – reporter at the Buenos Aires Herald 1976-1981

 

Archive footage is used between the talking heads. The old clips show some individuals and some moments of the past, including the following:

 

# 1. Jorge Videla – a leading member of the military junta (1976-1981)

# 2. The Mothers and Grandmothers of the Disappeared in Plaza de Mayo

# 3. The World Cup of football which was held in Argentina in 1978

# 4. Robert Cox giving testimony in a courtroom during a public trial of leading junta members in 1985

 

What do reviewers say about this film?

 

Here are some results:

 

On IMDb it has a rating of 79 percent.

 

On Amazon there are at the moment 25 ratings of this product, 11 with reviews.

 

The average rating is 4.3 stars, which corresponds to a rating of 86 percent.

 

What do I think? In my opinion, the rating on Amazon is too high, while the rating on IMDb is very appropriate.

 

The topic is important. The story of Robert Cox and his career deserves to be told. But in this film, it is not always well done. This film is uneven. Not quite successful.

 

What is wrong?

 

Let me explain:

 

The story jumps from one situation to another without explaining where we are now and what is going on.

 

Here are two examples:

 

# 1. When I see a reporter interviewing some women in a public square, I know these women are the Mothers and Grandmothers of the Disappeared, but this fact is not explained. 

 

Why not?

 

# 2. When I see Cox giving testimony in a room, there is no information about what we are watching. 

 

Why not?

 

This is in fact, archive footage from the public trial against nine leading members of the military junta which was held in 1985, two years after the junta was replaced by a civilian government.

 

One brief moment shows two persons who played an important role in this trial:

 

** Julio Cesar Strassera (1933-2015) – the public prosecutor

** Luis Moreno Ocampo (born 1952) – the deputy public prosecutor

 

But there is no information about this. The public prosecutor and his assistant are not mentioned.

 

Why not?

 

Perhaps the missing information is given in the long version of the film? I watched the short version.

 

In addition, the title of the film is a poor choice, because it does not explain the topic of the film.

 

All relevant facts are missing:

 

** The country = Argentina

** The topic = the Dirty War

** The main person = Robert Cox

 

Why choose a title which leaves potential viewers completely in the dark about the topic?

 

To be fair, I must say that the the poster has a subtitle:

 

The Story of Robert Cox and the Buenos Aires Herald

 

But the subtitle is written with very small letters. 

 

It is almost invisible!

 

As you can see, there are some flaws here which cannot be ignored. I have to remove one star because of these flaws. This is why I think this product deserves a rating of four stars (80 percent).

 

REFERENCES

 

# 1. Books

 

A State of Fear:

Memories of Argentina’s Nightmare

By Andrew Graham-Yooll

(1986)

 

God’s Assassins:

State terrorism in Argentina in the 1970s

By Patricia Marchak with William Marchak

(1999)

 

Dirty Secrets, Dirty War:

The Exile of Robert J. Cox

Buenos Aires, Argentina, 1976-1983

By David Cox (the son of Robert Cox)

(2008)

 

# 2. Film and video

 

Argentina’s Stolen Children

Retro Report (1984)

Available on YouTube

 

The Official Story

A historical drama

(1985)

Ratings:

** 77 percent = IMDb

** 89 percent = Rotten Tomatoes (the audience)

** 100 percent = Rotten Tomatoes (the critics)

 

Imagining Argentina

(2003)

Ratings:

** 31 percent = Rotten Tomatoes (the critics)

** 71 percent = Rotten Tomatoes (the audience)

** 61 percent = IMDb

 

Chronicle of an Escape

Alternative title: Buenos Aires, 1977

(2006)

Ratings:

** 67 percent = Rotten tomatoes

** 71 percent = IMDb

 

Stolen children of Argentina’s dictatorship 

search for the truth

France 24

(2016)

Available on YouTube

 

Argentina, 1985

A historical drama

(2022)

Ratings:

** 76 percent = IMDb

** 78 percent = Meta

** 92 percent = Rotten Tomatoes (the audience)

** 96 percent = Rotten Tomatoes (the critics)

 

*****

 

Dirty Secrets, Dirty War:

The Exile of Robert J. Cox

Buenos Aires, Argentina, 1976-1983

By David Cox

(2008)

*****