Institute History
Description
A new feature by director Gonzalo Justiniano, Amnesia is a powerful exploration of the human desire (or need) for oblivion and revenge. Zuñiga and Ramirez are survivors of a war that started in Chile in 1973, when democratically elected Salvador Allende was overthrown by the military. Twenty years later, they are victims of this same war. It is a war no one wants to recall, but it is still going on for them. In one night they have to decide between revenge and forgiveness.
Set in the startling landscapes of the Chilean desert, and featuring excellent performances by Julio Jung and Pedro Vicuña, Amnesia reaffirms Justiniano’s strong directorial hand and control of the medium. Since his return to Chile in the mid-1980s, Justiniano has made four feature films in a way that reminds us of American independent cinema.
Amnesia is a story that has been explored before in cinema, but it is told this time in a very original and personal way. It is a film that transcends Chile and its military history. It touches in all of us the desire to forget and the inevitability of remembering.