By Steven Quinones | Staff Writer
*Warning: this article contains spoilers for the film Clandestine Childhood*
This year marked the first ever Festival De Cine here at Salve Regina University. The goal of this event was to bring various films from Spanish-speaking countries to the Newport Community. The festival went on for two weeks and ended up showing a total of five different films over its entire duration. The Festival was open to the entire Newport Community and served as a great way to demonstrate the film subjects and styles of other cultures. Over the course of the festival, I was able to attend the screening of two films, but one was significantly more impactful than the other. This film was Infancia Clandestina, or Clandestine Childhood.
The film served as a very emotional memoir based on the director’s tragic childhood. The film follows Juan and his family’s return to Argentina after being exiled. Before being exiled, Juan’s family operated as activists to overturn the government and they return in order to finish the job they had started years earlier. Juan is forced to take on the name Ernesto in order to prevent anyone from figuring out who he is. Over the course of the film, Juan begins to settle into his new life and ends up falling for a girl that attends his school. However, Juan’s family is still living under constant fear and everything goes south once his uncle dies. Juan’s loyalty to his family is pushed to new extremes and he tries to run away. Unable to get his crush to go with him, Juan returns home only to have his daily life crash all around him. His family is discovered and he and his sister are taken by the government. Juan is held for questioning by the government, but is eventually released to his grandmother.
The strength of the film is the emotions that are conveyed to the audience. This film could have simply been a one-dimensional film about a tragic event, but the film makes the audience care about the characters. When the characters go through hard times, the audience also feels that weight. It takes a lot for films to make the audience feel for the characters. It may be due to the fact that it was advertised as a real story. That makes you feel for the characters. But regardless, it still does a great job. I would say that the Festival De Cine was overall a great experience and I’m excited to see what may come from it next year.
