User Reviews

The Latin American dictatorships of the 70's and 80's were characterized by the thousands of cases of "detenidos desaparecidos". These were the people picked up off the streets and which simply "vanished" in the dark corridors of the local Gestapos. During many years these same regimes (all of them backed directly or indirectly by the CIA) denied the cases, even denied the very existence of these people.

But lately (at least in Chile) many of the remains of these persons have been recovered and identified. Fernando was detained a few days after the coup in 1973, he was only 17. In 1998 his remains were found in an illegal grave. The identification process took a long time, but was totally positive.

This film is about the reencounter of Fernando's wife, son and rest of his family both with his remains and the chilling truth of how he was killed.

The scene at the morgue is incredible. Both by the respect shown by the doctors to Fernando, the reencounter of his remains with his family after having dissapeared for over 20 years and how the remains of the body "tell" how he was beaten, tortured and killed.

Fernando now lies in a proper grave at the Santiago Cemetery. His story is a lesson on what never should happen again in our continent.

Silvio Caiozzi made this documentary as the story unfolded. It's a very hard film to see, because it's not been aired on TV in our country. I had the privilege of seeing it in a festival of Chilean Documentaries on DBSS a few weeks ago.

An excellent film

The function of film sense is not easily defined. Sense in film is often associated with realizing the social experiences of the audience, such associations then leading into psychological and aesthetical discussion. Whether or not sense is examined in film as an analyzable art form, it is part of an audiovisual system that allows spectators to escape. If this is so, sense is subliminal because it unconsciously prepares the spectator for the means by which to do so. Cinema events can allow audiences to perceive reality in a passive framework and therefore, the success of film does not heavily rely upon interpretations of the social experiences of the viewers. More to the point is the fact that film allows a virtual reconstruction of experience along with the proposal of new ones.

If cinema accommodates the invention of virtual social experiences, then by what means does the music contribute to this? An understanding of the relationship between sense and the cinematic world of the ' make believe ' will help to answer this question. Film sense can allow extreme ideas to become plausible. Alien attacks, shootings, murders and court room hearings are not usually associated with the vocabularies of our everyday social experiences, so how can cinema extrapolate such experiences so realistically? Sensation certainly has an important role.

Some of the most intriguing films being made today are those that engage with the world-whether the world of ideas or of social and political realities. Documentary films ignite discussion, open our minds, expand our worlds, and do so in aesthetically innovative forms-from interview, essay, and collage films to works that use elements of fiction. These films do not have to make up shootings, murders, and court room drama because these things are real. While a few make it to local theaters, the majority do not. Documentaries are respected and they are made up generally of a certain type of factual information. In addition, a documentary is assumed almost always to be, to one degree or another, socially progressive. Without all the fantasy of the production, the documentary films can exactly present the audience with ideas and situations that are social and true.

This is quite valid in the Silvio Caiozzi film entitled Fernando Ha Vuelto in which we see Agave Díaz say goodbye to her husband Fernando through the help of forensic science. Lately, many illegal graves have been found in Chile, and these scientists have recovered the remains in order to reconstruct the remains to identify them. The feeling of sense can be experienced throughout the entire film. With the sounds, sights, and vivid visual representation in the film, the viewer feels as if they are a part of the family.

The audio in this film is remarkable. With the start of the film and a match being lit along with many footsteps heard, we can truly know what it would be like to start a candle parade in memory of a loved one. We can feel as if maybe we were the ones who lost someone. Also, the language used by the doctors and the loved ones is real; no terrible lines by bad actors, these words are real. Even at the end, all the viewers can see is credits and a scenic background, but the sound of birds makes us feel like we are sitting in the cemetery remembering Fernando. The surreal audio in this movie allows us to become aware and take in the sense of it all.

Let us not forget the visual effect that this film creates. The camera angles make us feel like we are not watching a movie, but rather we are in the movie. When the camera focuses on the forensic doctor spinning her cigarette case, the viewer might feel as if they are there, really watching this annoying habit. The camera angles also produce a realistic effect; they give us the sense of actually being in the film. It is very important that during most of the documentary no one looks directly into the camera. This gives the viewer an existence as a casual observer. The scene at the morgue is incredible. Both by the respect shown by the doctors to Fernando, the reencounter of his remains with his family after having disappeared for over 20 years and how the remains of the body show how he was beaten, tortured and killed. We can almost feel the beatings and hear the cries of Fernando along with that of his grieving wife.

Overall, this film lets us experience many of the senses that we would experience if we were there. Of course we cannot smell, taste, or touch anything, but through the visual effects of the camera, and the audio masterpiece, it is possible to get a type of sense that the family might feel. A true documentary, Caiozzi sets a standard both in Chile, and in the international community. His realistic representation of sense and feeling in an emotionally challenging setting should serve as an example to others in the same field.

My apologies for grammer and not making some sense, i used this text to translate into Spanish, so i wrote in lethargic English. its a good film though...shows the realities of the Pinochet, who many hate, but in reality he saved a starving country.