Set during the unsettling disappearances in Buenos Aires during the dictatorship of the 1970s, the film involves theater director Carlos Rueda and his wife Cecilia. Shortly after Cecilia writes an editorial commentary questioning the mysterious abductions, she is herself abducted and taken into police custody.
Like Life Is Beautiful before it, Imagining Argentina juxtaposes horrific images of torture and humiliation against gooey optimism and thinks it's saying something profound about human resilience in the process.
– Scott Foundas,
L.A. Weekly,
10 Jun 2004
rotten:
The concept takes magical realism to a reductive, overtly literal level, trivializing the subject and the people the film tries so hard to memorialize.
– Kevin Crust,
Los Angeles Times,
10 Jun 2004
rotten:
It's sad to see a film which, despite fine work in the various craft departments, fails to succeed on the most basic level.
– David Stratton,
Variety,
29 Jun 2004
fresh:
Despite its flaws, the film does the job in helping us imagine what that must be like for relatives and friends left behind.