The true story of four men who narrowly escaped death at the hands of Argentina's military death squads in 1977. Claudio Tamburrini is a goalie for a minor-league football team when he is abducted by members of the Argentine military police and taken to an unofficial detention center on the false suspicion that he is a terrorist. As he is tortured by intelligence agents looking for information he doesn't have, Tamburrini fully expects to be killed. After many sessions of brutal torture, Tamburrini and his fellow captives Guillermo and Tano are being readied for execution when, in a final desperate act, Tamburrini dives out a window during a rainstorm.
The repetitive scenes of abuse lose their power too soon, and even the climactic flight stalls in first gear before it's barely begun.
– David Fear,
Time Out New York,
29 Nov 2007
fresh:
A tense and mammothly upsetting dramatization of Tamburrini's memoir; ... gets everything that can pound in your body pounding.
– Jan Stuart,
Newsday,
29 Nov 2007
fresh:
The film is taut and ruthlessly constructed, with odd flashes of humor and a white-knuckle pace.
– Andrew O'Hehir,
Salon.com,
29 Nov 2007
fresh:
This film is both a warning about abuse of government power and a reassurance that justice will sometimes triumph.
– V.A. Musetto,
New York Post,
30 Nov 2007
fresh:
It is a small relief to discover that Chronicle of an Escape is relatively restrained in its depiction of torture. Despite its restraint, the movie is deeply unsettling.