I'm a little confused as to the nationality of the characters

My opinion is that the question of the Escobar's nationality is not uninteresting. Why would Paulina come back into the country in wich she's been torturded? My hypothesis is that they may never be gone since her liberation, 15 years ago. The scene takes place very recently after the fall of the dictatorship. Until thoses day, leaving the country may have been forbidden so that Paulina and Gerardo had to stay until nowadays. In the book, the character mention her imminent leaving as if talking about hollidays... maybe they have never been gone, since the day Paulina was back to Gerardo.
OR
After her liberation, Paulina and Gerardo have left the country. Todays Gerardo, who must be known as a famous resilient (he is the one Miranda was looking for), is back to judge the affair. That reason may be strong enough to explain his back and Paulina's... not so sure of this second hypothesis...

and sorry 'bout my english!! just a young froog eater... bye :)

""You do realize that South America is NOT a country in Africa?

There are plenty of clues in the film to suggest it's Chile, a country whose, GASP, population is over 90% white. Argentina is about 97% white.""


And you are aware there are White Africans in Africa..?

[deleted]

So we can consider it as one of the first "global movies", isn't it?


Hardly.

"On the other hand it was filmed in Galicia, a region in the North-West of Spain in Southern-Western Europe (Peugeot 405 was a very popular car in Spain those years)."

I think they used the Peugeot for authenticity, they was manufactured under license in Argentina, and many of them sold to Chile.

You know,

The sad part is, despite the fact that this 'unamed' South American country is almost certainly Chile, it could be Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay, El Salvador, Nicaragua or any of another half dozen other Central or South American countries.

All of these have had repressive regimes at one time or another that have used torture and have 'disappeared' thousands of people over the last 40 years. You have to rank this film up there with other socially conscious films about South America's suffering like SALVADOR, ONE MAN'S WAR, and ROMERO just to name a few.

And yes, the American Government quietly supported these guys simply because they were not 'Reds'. Supporting some fascist monster just because he is not a Marxist all in the name of a philosopy called 'Real Politik' is bad policy that will eventually come back to haunt you....but I digress.

I'm not surprised that Miranda went kind of nuts towards the end. Torture is the last resort of a lazy or unsophisticated interrogator. The confessions you get are useless and they end up literally dictating the confession to them. It also removes a lot of the dignity from death, and ultimately destroys the souls of the torturers, who slowly become mad themselves.

Many become so sadistic, that their own superiors fear or loathe them and they often have to be gotten rid of because their 'confessions' are worthless or gothic exercises that revolt their own leaders. Many just become too dangerous to keep around and get executed on some trumped up charge or even end up in their own torture chambers.

It is not often commented on (because we are naturally more concerned with the victims, not the disturbed individual who torment them), but torturers have all sorts of emotional problems because of what they do. Many drink heavily or do drugs to manage their guilt or shame. Many will demonize their victims or view them as animals or sub-human to avoid feeling sympathy for them (i.e. you can respect a resilient and brave enemy). Quite a few go mad and turn their torture chamber into their own playground under the guise of doing their job.

Some of the more sophisticated torturers ascribe to a twisted form of psychiatry, and they rationalize that the victims are 'sick' and their dissident behavior is part of some kind of 'personality disorder' by trying to get them to confess (by coercion or by drugs during interrogation) they are helping them release their guilt and take their punishment and see their 'error' and therby rejoin their society.

This point of view goes a long way to give legitimacy to the ruling Junta or political party and salve the conscience (what is left of it) of the interrogators. Again, you can respect or empathize with a brave enemy who withstands torture, but you can only pity a 'sick' person, and you can feel good that you are trying to fix a 'sick' mind, right?

It's pretty sad when the only rational person in THAT room is strapped to a table.

That would depend on how you measure these things. Actually, most Latin Americans are mestizos. Even Chile, as one blogger stated, is 70% mestizo, as is Venezuela. Brazil is almost half black or mulatto, Bolivia and Guatemala are more than half Native American and 90% of Paraguayan citizens have at least some Guarani ancestry. The only Latin American nations that are predominantly European are Argentina and Uruguay. Regarding what country this was supposed to portray, they mentioned the time frame 1975-1980. Most of Latin America, including Chile, was still under dictatorships at this time. The only dictatorship to fall in 1980 was in Peru. Notwithstanding the car and the currency, could this have been the country it was portraying?

Who Dat Who Say Dey Gonna Beat Dem Saints! LONG LIVE THE WHO DAT NATION!!!