Lamb of God

Family drama grippingly links two periods from recent Argentine history. When the affluent Arturo (77) is kidnapped during the financial crisis in 2002, his daughter is forced to return to Buenos Aires, after living in exile since 1978.

The feature début by Lucía Cedrón, accomplished in all respects, is set at the moment when Argentina was in the middle of economic and financial chaos several years ago. In between, we see the events from 1978, the year of the World Cup Football, in a country under a military dictatorship. These are two turbulent periods in the history of the country that are grippingly and inextricably linked together by Cedrón. It starts, relatively recently, with the kidnap of 77-year-old Arturo. A ransom is demanded from his granddaughter Guillermina, who feels compelled to ask for help from her mother Teresa. Ever since the end of the 1970s, political circumstances have forced Teresa to live in France, but now she has to return to Buenos Aires.

In the very unstable situation in 1978, Teresa was about to graduate as a doctor and was living with her husband Paco and their six-year-old daughter. They had links with opposition groups and were kidnapped by the paramilitary police at a certain point. Grandfather Arturo had to look after little Guillermina and tried to get his daughter and son-in-law free through his good contacts in the army.

In a beautiful mirror construction, Lamb of God looks at a subject very personal to its maker. Her father, the film maker Jorge Cedrón, died in the 1970s in circumstances that have never been clarified, and she grew up in France with her mother. –IFFR