what was the 'terrible thing'?

Toward the beginning of the movie, Joaquín's family is discussing his problems and someone says, "his mother left and then that terrible thing happened." I kept waiting for "that terrible thing" to be revealed, but it never was.

I can't remember if his mother left when he was 8 or when he was 12. If he was 8, and he was 30 in 2002 (when the movie was filmed?) it would have been 1980, right in the middle of La Guerra Sucia.

So would Argentine audiences assume something that other audiences wouldn't? Or am I reading too much into it?

We're told that the mother left because she had cancer and didn't want his son to see her get sick and die. Was that all there was to it? Given the time frame, I couldn't stop thinking that really, she wasn't sick, but the junta came to take her away and killed her.

On the other hand she got in the car willingly.

The other reason I keep thinking there must be more to his trauma is that his problems seem quite severe and long-lasting. They seem more than would result from just his mother leaving, or even from both his mother and friend leaving. In Argentina at this time, there was so much secrecy, lies, and oppression. How much did that national trauma impact his personal life?