ARGENTINE FILM

In 1972, Politti made his film debut* in Leopoldo Torre Nilsson’s “Los siete locos.” Though his part was small, his work landed him two more roles with the same filmmaker: “Boquitas pintadas” and “La guerra del cerdo.” Not only did he enjoy the prestige of working with Torre Nilsson, these movies were based on texts by the great authors Roberto Arlt, Manuel Puig and Adolfo Bioy Casares, respectively. While doing “Boquitas pintadas,” Politti also met one of the film’s producers, Juan José Jusid, who would later offer him work as director in “Los gauchos judíos” and “No toquen a la nena.”

In 1973, Luis Puenzo, who up until then had been dedicated to doing commercials, made his debut in full-length film with his opera prima, “Luces de mis zapatos,” which featured the actor and musician of children’s shows, Pipo Pescador. The cast also included Norman Brisky, Juana Hidalgo, Eduardo Fasulo, Roberto Carnaghi and Luis Politti, among others.

On August 1, 1974, Sergio Renán released his first full-length film, “La tregua”, based on the 1960s novel by Mario Benedetti, which reads like the protagonist’s personal diary. The film brought an acclaimed and virtuous cast together to tell the love story of Martín Santomé and Laura Avellaneda. Success was not long in coming. “La tregua” received wide acceptance from the public, was invited to the San Sebastián Film Festival and was one of the five films nominated for the Oscar for Best Foreign Film, a first for an Argentine film. Federico Fellini’s “Amarcord”, however, would end up taking the statue home. Luis Brandoni, Marilina Ross, Lautaro Murúa, Cipe Lincovsky, Norma Aleandro and Walter Vidarte appeared alongside Politti and Alterio in the cast of “La tregua.” All of these actors would later be faced with exile from Argentina.

Excerpt from: “Luis Politti: cadencias y otros cielos,” Fabián Stolovitsky,

Ediciones Corregidor, Buenos Aires, 1995

 

*In his book “De Gardel a Norma Aleandro, diccionario sobre figuras del cine argentino en el exterior”, Mario Gallina cites Rodolfo Kuhn’s “Turismo de carretera” (1968) as Politti’s film debut.

MORE MOVIES

Politti’s success in “La tregua” caught the interest of other directors who wanted him in their films. That interest would be reflected on the marquees between May and September in 1975 when four movies, in which he played an important role, were released. The first to come out was "Los gauchos judios" (Jewish Gauchos) by Juan Jose Jusid, in which Politti played the part of Calamaco, the gaucho. The movie suffered violent attacks from anti-semitic groups, including the bombing of a Buenos Aires theater where it was playing. The film enjoyed extraordinary commercial success, thanks to a talented cast, which included Victor Laplace, Luisina Brando, Pepe Soriano, Gina María Hidalgo, Raul Lavié, Osvaldo Terranova, China Zorrilla and Adrián Ghio. One of the main scenes of the movie, where the gaucho Calamaco kills his son (Ghio) in front of the entire town, was censured and removed from the film.

Two months later, “La Raulito” came out, starring Marilina Ross and directed by Lautaro Murúa. The film became an enormous success in Argentina as well as in Spain and hence, ultimately served as a sort of safe-conduct and aid to those who acted in the film and later had to go into exile. In “La Raulito,” Politti once more showed off his wide range of acting talent in his interpretation of a newspaper vendor that gives work and shelter to the female star and tries unsuccessfully to maintain a romantic relationship with her.

In August the third Politti movie within four months was released. “La Guerra del cerdo,” made by Leopoldo Torre Nilsson and based on the novel by Adolfo Bioy Casares, used a supposed generational confrontation to put into fiction the violent climate that the Argentine society was living at the time. Politti played Farrell, one of the old men attacked by a group of adolescents. The cast also included José Slavin, Marta González, Victor Laplace, Osvaldo Terranova and Miguel Ligero.

Politti’s only failure that year was in “Solamente ella,” released in September, which would be the next-to-last movie made by legendary filmmaker Lucas Demare. Interestingly enough, this was the film where Politti played his most important role, as a man that tended to abuse his co-star, Susana Rinaldi. Aldo Barbero, Jorge Martinez, Raul Lavié, Nora Cullen and Juan Carlos Copes also participated in the cast.

The last two movies that Politti filmed in Argentina were Jorge Darnell’s “Tiempos duros para Drácula,” which was never released in Argentina though it did enjoy a commercial release in Spain after the military coup took place, and “No toquen a la nena,” the film by Juan José Jusid, which under different circumstances would have created a great star out of Politti. The comedy, written by Jorge Goldemberg and Oscar Viale, finished post-production on March 24, 1976, the day of the military coup. In order to get it released in theaters, they had to negotiate long and hard with the authorities in charge of censorship (who were incidentally headed by Miguel Paulino Tato, who had also held the same position during the previous democratic government). While Politti was able to see the film in a private viewing, it was not released until he was already in exile. Given the climate in Argentina during August 1976 and the eminently corrosive nature of her history, “No toquen a la nena” had a lukewarm reception, especially taking into consideration that in addition to Politti, many of the other cast members had also had to leave the country. The film shows, in a bantering tone, how a traditional family – father (Politti), mother (María Vaner), grandfather (Pepe Soriano) and children (Gustavo Rey and Patricia Calderón) – finds itself in crisis when Calderón’s boyfriend leaves her after finding out she is pregnant. The cast also included Norma Aleandro, Julio de Grazia, Lautaro Murúa, Chunchuna Villafañe, Juan Manuel Tenuta and Lidia Catalano. Julio Chavez, Patricio Contreras and Cecilia Roth made their film debuts in this film.

Had Argentine history taken an alternate path, Politti would have gone on to film Nicolás Sarquís’ “Facundo, la sombra del tigre,” which, incidentally, did not finish up for another ten years. He had also been negotiating to work in a film alongside Anthony Quinn. That movie never ended up being filmed in Argentina.

LOS TRAIDORES
“Los traidores” (The Traitors), the movie that provoked Politti’s abduction and later exile, was filmed in secret in 1972, at a time when Politti had very little cinematographic experience and was virtually unknown. His on-camera participation – unpaid and as a professional actor rather than a militant – lasted no more than three minutes, although it was obvious that his character represented General Alejandro Agustín Lanusse, who at that moment was the de facto president of Argentina. By the time the repressive military forces had come to power and cruelly harassed all who had participated in the movie, which had been shown in factories and slums by the militant group ERP during the days of democracy, Politti was one of the two most well-known actors that had worked on the film. The other was Lautaro Murúa, who had almost been abducted but managed to escape the country after hiding out for a week. When on June 21 Politti was abducted and subjected to distressing interrogations at the Federal Security building, the big question was whether or not he knew the location of Raimundo Gleyzer, the director of the film. Politti had not the least idea but his interrogator did: Gleyzer had been abducted by the repressive regime on May 27 and subsequently killed.

Gabriel Lerman