Siblings Diana (Cristina Rosato) and Davie (Raphael Grosz-Harvey) are of Argentinian descent - but they haven't been to the country since they've been very little and their parents (Gerardo Romano, Cristina Banegas) left for Canada due to political turmoils and now don't even speak Spanish. But now they have decided to go on a vacation to Buenos Aires, she to get in touch with her heritage, he to basically fill an existential void - which is only augmented by his sister's insistence that they ought to find out whether he's adopted. And while Diana soon falls in love with dancing the tango, and with Argentinian men, Davie gets his birth certificate and finds out his parents are indeed his parents. Somehow that doesn't fill his void though, nor does Diana's tango teacher Josefina (Eleonora Wexler) he feels weirdly drawn to and vice versa. And eventually he learns about an Argentinian gouvernment scheme from around the time he was born where pregnant political activists were abducted and their offspring then given to rich, regime-loyal couples, with birth certificates forged to cover up the regime's crimes. And only a DNA test can now prove Davie's true heritage - but it could pose problems to the people he considered his parents for all his life ...

Ariel: Back to Buenos Aires is a rather unique genre blend as it starts out as a bit of a travelogue, but soon veers off into political drama, at the same time being a strong character piece, all set to pretty captivating tango music and peppered with a lot of dancing - and it works, too, because the story is engagingly told, manages to nicely tie up its narrative threads, and stays away from narrative clichés, all captured by rather impressive camerawork and carried by a relatable cast. And despite all this drama and political underscore, this has turned out to be a pretty entertaining movie that's well worth a watch.

review © by Mike Haberfelner

 

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