Fest Track On Sirk TV Film Review: 1976 [Cannes Film Festival 2022]
The inference of memory or perhaps even wishful thinking reflects in the aspect of how people want see the lives of family members whose adventures are bathed at times in the haze of hearsay. These dramatic textures offer great comfort but also enrichment because they work in the idea of what could be possible both for the current generation and generations to come. Carmen (played by Aline Kuppenheim) is a young grandmother enjoying her life but senses that something else is going on outside her world. The film takes place in 1976 which is the context of the film. The location is Chile during a dictatorship. Carmen might be hoping for a different life (despite her comfort) but a certain degree of possibility enters into her daily routine as a new wrinkle enters in to her circle. To say exactly what this context is would give away the rub of the movie. While this is done in a softer way, one gets the sense that the director's intention is to show possibility, not hide it. Manuela Martelli (the director) mentioned in her opening remarks that she was inspired by seeing 8mm films that had been lost in her family's basement and recently uncovered. This might be the travails of her grandmother but it is left to inference.
While there is some reverie and suspense in the moment, Carmen's need to push herself into situations she can't control in the middle of a governmental function more akin to martial law doesn't create tension because the build of the film doesn't create dread. The power comes when there is an inference offscreen or just out of view which is used only a few times. As a result, the lies become more internal than external (save for one scene). That said, Carmen retains a good heart though her reasoning is suspect when she has great grandkids and a doting husband. But the need to affect changes seems sometimes just to be the adrenalin pushes her. She sees some of the merit inside the actions she encounters but she is also part of the system. Ultimately "1976" is a look back through the idea of choice and those who tried to do something different. The reality though is even in a small way though the outcome as presented still seems undetermined and yet known in its inevitability. B
By Tim Wassberg
