Netflix announces new dictatorship thriller by Oscar nominee Santiago Mitre

Netflix announced on Tuesday the production of a new political thriller directed by filmmaker Santiago Mitre, who earned an Academy Award nomination for Argentina, 1985 in 2023. The film, starring Peter Lanzani and Verónica Llinás, reportedly centers on the infiltration of “a high-ranking officer into groups that were peacefully organizing to demand information about detained relatives during Argentina’s military dictatorship.” While details of the plot weren’t released, the short synopsis closely resembles the true story of the Church of the Holy Cross kidnappings, in which military personnel abducted a group of activists that included the head of Mothers of Plaza de Mayo Azucena Villaflor, French nuns Alice Domon and Léonie Duquet, and other relatives of disappeared.  The main operation took place in December 1977 after a meeting at the Buenos Aires church, and was led by infamous repressor Alfredo Astiz, who had impersonated the brother of a desaparecido in order to infiltrate the group and obtain intelligence on the Mothers.  At the time, under the direction of editor-in-chief Robert Cox, the Herald was the only media outlet that reported on the kidnappings. The story ran on its front page, as well as several follow-up stories the following days. In his editorial that week, Cox raised the question of whether the kidnappings had been perpetrated by the government. The Herald‘s coverage of the kidnapping. The victims of the Holy Cross kidnappings were taken to the ESMA death camp, tortured, and later thrown alive into the ocean from a Navy airplane. Decades later, the Argentine Team of Forensic Anthropology identified some of their bodies, which had washed up on Buenos Aires shores a few days afterwards. That process was key to prove the systematic use of “death flights” as the dictatorship’s modus operandi for mass murder.   According to Mitre, the project focuses on “the everyday dimension of political violence” rather than attempting to depict an entire historical period. “This film reconstructs a real, specific moment and does so from the inside, following ordinary people in an extreme situation,” Mitre said in a statement.  “It does not try to encompass an entire era, but instead observes how violence seeps into daily life. It is a thriller based on real events, where what is most unsettling is that nothing seems extraordinary — until it is too late.” While rumors of Lanzani playing Navy Lieutenant Jorge ‘Tigre’ Acosta — head of the ESMA death squad —  circulated last year, the official announcement appears to indicate Lanzani’s role could actually be based, in some form, on Astiz. Known as “the Angel of Death,” Astiz is currently serving a life sentence for several crimes against humanity. Lanzani, who also appeared in Argentina, 1985 alongside Ricardo Darín, described the role as one of the most challenging of his career. “Accepting this character means accepting discomfort from day one,” he said. “It requires understanding real mechanisms of manipulation and betrayal, not caricatures. The responsibility is to neither soften nor exaggerate the character, but to make him believable.” You may also be interested in: The nun who wanted to change the world Llinás, who will reportedly portray “a mother searching for her son,” said she approached the role from a human perspective rather than a symbolic one. “I’m interested in her clarity, her determination and the way she transforms pain into action,” she said. “It’s a story about collective courage, but also about very concrete personal decisions.” Written by Mitre and Mariano Llinás, the film will be produced by La Unión de los Ríos (Argentina) — in which Mitre is a founding partner —  and France’s Maneki Films, which co-produced Mitre’s 2022 film 15 Ways to Kill Your Neighbor. The shooting will begin in March at multiple locations in the city of Buenos Aires and surrounding areas. La Unión de los Ríos’ producer Agustina Llambi Campbell said the project carries particular significance amid ongoing challenges facing Argentina’s film industry. “At a critical moment for our national cinema, we embrace this project with responsibility, gratitude and the unshakable joy of making films,” she said. Netflix did not announce a release date. Cover image, left to right: Pedro Lanzani, Santiago Mitre, and Verónica Llinás. Photo credits: Sebastián Arpesella / Marieta Vazquez / Gabriel Machado