Couple dancing Music 01.00.00
the tango, slow
motion Peter George: A dance of passion, of hidden shadows and of foreboding.
The Tango - a symbol of Argentina. A song of betrayal.
Woman holding skull, George Woman: One entered in this direction, and exit in this direction. 00.36
speaking to man and woman
George: If she'd lived, she would have been about my age by now. She was, perhaps, 22 years old when her life was cut short by a government that turned against its own people.
She was just one of 335 unidentified victims dumped into a mass grave by their military executioners.
Skull and bones, George: As many as 30 thousand Argentines were tortured and killed in the dirty war. Anthropologists like Luis Patricia are still trying to piece together the evidence but today it's an increasingly lonely business. 01.04
George looking at old records George: A lot of people, not least the authorities would now love to forget many of secret files once so carefully compiled by military assassins are missing or destroyed. 01.23
Evening street scenes George: The government has already pardoned the perpetrators and many ordinary citizens would now like to forget the past and to move on. Yet there are those who say Argentina owes it to the victims and to itself, not to bury the past - to do so they say would be to condemn Argentina to future betrayals.
Balloons, people in square, intv George: The mothers of the Missing don't forget. 02.03
with woman,
letting balloons go, people looking up, intv with woman Woman: I didn't know it was a crime to work in a shanty town. My daughter was murdered for helping the poor.
George: For 19 years they have made the Plaza De Mayo a square of remembrance - a shrine for the collective memory - and a thorn in the national conscience. 02.24
Woman: She disappeared 24th December 1975, my husband 11 June 1976. He was involved in a trial against the military who were charged with murdering my daughter. My daughter's husband disappeared 24th March, 11th May this girl and her husband and on 19th May 1977 my son and his wife. 02.38
Interior, people standing around, George walks through George: While the mothers want to remember, there is another generation that now wants to discover. 03.14
Poster, young kids in room, on stairs, intv with some of them These are the children of those who disappeared. For many years they've carried their pain like a guilty secret - now they want something more.
Young Man: Justice would be the revenge. The imprisonment of the murderers, kidnappers and torturers of our parents. I'm not sure if you could call it revenge, but it would be justice. That's what we demand. 03.34
Young Woman: That would be the normal justice. It is normal for this type of murderer to be locked away for life. It's what would happen anywhere else.
George: They feel doubly betrayed - first by the Generals, now by a democratic Government they feel has absolved the killers while turning its back on the victims. 03.58
Interview with young man Young Man: The way they acted in the concentration camps - the way they killed off a whole generation - if these people are on the loose, it can happen all over again. For a long time we believed in this government's justice but they betrayed us - they passed laws to let the perpetrators free.
Men playing Music 04.30
guitars, people
watching, waving, walking along, George inside shop, George: There seems good reason to forget nowadays. Life in Argentina is so much better. 04.49
The memories that flood back now are welcome memories of the 20s and 30s. Argentina's greatest years when it was a world power. 05.02
With it has come a new pride and a time when Argentina was great. A time when its most celebrated export was a dance.
Tracking shot to entrance to club, people dancing Today at the local suburban hop in Buenos Aires, rock 'n roll and disco are out. Instead they are dancing to recordings made on old 78s more than half a century ago. 05.34
Tango is back with a vengeance, discovered by a whole new generation. And while old timers revel in half forgotten memories, youngsters are suddenly eager to follow in their footsteps.
George walking in to television studio, quick cuts of people dancing tango, tango signs Cashing in on the nostalgia, there's now even a television station for aficionados. It's called Solo Tango and it plays nothing but, what else - Tango - in all it's forms - 24 hours a day. 06.14
Record player Tango Music 06.33
man with record
player, George walking down stairs with Eleo, they speak about Gardel George: All this is no surprise to old timers like Eleo Giorgetti who've always known that tango and Argentina belong hand in glove.
George: Carlos Gardel is the one, great mythic figure of Tango, the beauty of his voice and the despair of his songs still touch a deep cord in the Argentines soul.
Eleo: No one can emulate him. He sang the very first tango, 'My Sad Night'. His voice was like an instrument the way he used it. He was like another instrument in the orchestra.
Old b/w movie footage, man singing and playingSuper fades on screen:CARLOS GARDEL'CUESTA ABAJO'(Gardel/Le Pero) George: At the height of his fame, Gardel died in a plane crash at 47 ... perfect circumstances around which to build an Argentine legend, a fitting end for the greatest exponent of the dark art of Tango. 07.31
Statue, paintings, flowers, intv with Eleo, plaques George: Though he died sixty years ago, Gardel's memory just keeps on smoking - universally loved, pilgrims to his tomb like Eleo keep him supplied every day. 07.50
Eleo: The people sometimes come here if they are feeling troubled. They see the good fortune he brings.
George: History becomes legend becomes myth - so it goes in Argentina. So with Gardel, so with the two other figures who have reached mythic proportions. One of them, former President General Juan Peron, is entombed nearby. 08.17
Intv with Eleo, Evita Peron's grave, intv continues Eleo: He undoubtedly attracted many people - but unfortunately he seems to be somewhat forgotten. As you can see there aren't too many flowers placed on this tomb. 08.34
George: But internationally, it's Peron's wife, Evita, who puts both Gardel and the General in the shade - for her story contains universal themes of betrayal and tragedy.
Eleo: And of course they're making a movie about her 'Evita'. I think there'll be many movies about her still to come. It seems she is becoming like Gardel. 09.06
Demo on street, banners, TV cameraman, people George: There's nothing more controversial than tampering with a legend. 09.24
milling around
people with banners The setting is real enough - it's the Presidential Palace - but it's Hollywood all over. The American singer, Madonna is playing the lead role in the musical, Evita - outraging Argentines for whom the real Evita has become an idol.
They remember Evita's love for the poor whom she called 'my shirtless ones'. Most would rather forget that together the Perons presided over an era of social, economic and political disintegration and of brutal repression of anyone who stood in their way.
Intv with Felipe NogueraSuper:FELIPE NOGUERAPolitical Analyst Noguera: Evita was a very controversial figure. When the Peronists movement sort of exploded on the scene in 1945, she was there, the head of it. And this made a lot of poorer people disenfranchised and really love her and saw her as a saint. 10.09
And of course she died only 7 or 8 years later so she didn't live long enough to prove anybody wrong. And on the other hand, the people that saw her methods and her power grab and the way she managed the Evita Foundation, all these things as an affront to the established order in Argentina hated her. And to an extent, continues to our days.
Couple dancing Music 10.52
tango in club
people watching George: Every night Evita and Juan Peron's Argentina legend is acted out once more - in the tango halls. A young woman escapes the slums - an older man, besotted, takes her on to wealth and glory - there is glamour, betrayal, tragedy and death.
Actors putting on make up, fixing hair, getting dressed From the dance halls to the theatres, Tango is a metaphor - it's hopelessly romantic, but its origins are real enough. 11.45
Intv with Jose GarofaloSuper:JOSE GAROFALODancer Garofalo: I think it has to do with our history as migrants - gauchos who were always leaving. They were immigrants who left their families. It's charged with melancholy with the experience of exile - of always leaving something behind - nostalgia and loss comes through the lyrics. 11.56
Couple dancing tango George: This is what the tango is about - a dance from the brothels and slums of 19th century Buenos Aires - a dance between pimp and whore - a dance to evoke power, seduction and suffering. 12.26
Intv with Noguera Noguera: Perhaps this is the sort of country which people who've got here maybe didn't feel they deserved it or something because it's so full of promise and opportunity or perhaps promise and opportunity is something very hard to live up So there's always this feeling that things may look okay but any minute everything may tumble down, it may all be an illusion.
McDonaldís, street, traffic, crowds of people, signs, taxis George: On the surface there seems little reason for such foreboding. Under President Carlos Menem the nation has seen an extraordinary turn around these past four years. 13.11
Democracy seems firmly in place, hyper-inflation of 5000 % is down to 4 %, the local and international business communities are ecstatic. But this little economic beauty is still only skin deep.
Man asleep in grass, boys playing soccer, man watching, girl watching, boys playing soccer Just a stroll away from the booming city centre lies a slum of 12,000 souls. Fifty years ago it was set up as a temporary shanty town for the poor - their poverty now seems permanent. 13.49
Government promises proved illusory and Evita's shirtless ones wonder why this latest economic miracle has passed them by.
Interview with priestSuper: Fr. Enrique Evangelista Fr. Evangelista: One of the major criticism from the archbishops is that there is no social plan to alleviate the unemployment situation this system has brought about. We have 22 % unemployment and there are no social benefits which would enable the government to assist the most needy. 14.15
Interview with NogueraSuper:FELIPE NOGUERAPolitical Analyst Noguera: I would say that a tremendous amount has been accomplished in the past five years. The problem is that a tremendous amount needs yet to be accomplished so we are somewhere in between. The incredible thing about the period between ‘91 to ‘94 was the pace of change. Things happened very quickly with great political determination. After that things slowed down. 14.35
Demonstration, news reporter, people watching, speaking, listening, woman at microphone, suited men with phones George: For Argentines the gulf between rich and poor has always been wide - it's become wider still under a government that claims to have inherited the Peronist mantle of caring for the 'shirtless ones'. 15.12
Observed by men who have the all too familiar look of the secret police who ruled the streets for the Generals in the 70s, the mothers of the Plaza del Mayo have been joined now by other show feel they also have been betrayed.
Women, one speaking, Woman: They call him a hero - a hero - because he takes all the money and sends it on to the US. 15.46
Music
Slow motion shots: arms waving, suited men on phones, people watching, police, people waving arms George: While the government basks in the glory of international acclaim for bringing stability to Argentina, its own people are beginning to wonder whether they are being betrayed by an illusion. 16.03
Argentina for all its changes, has yet to escape the fears and forebodings that have dominated its history.
ENDS 16.37
the tango, slow
motion Peter George: A dance of passion, of hidden shadows and of foreboding.
The Tango - a symbol of Argentina. A song of betrayal.
Woman holding skull, George Woman: One entered in this direction, and exit in this direction. 00.36
speaking to man and woman
George: If she'd lived, she would have been about my age by now. She was, perhaps, 22 years old when her life was cut short by a government that turned against its own people.
She was just one of 335 unidentified victims dumped into a mass grave by their military executioners.
Skull and bones, George: As many as 30 thousand Argentines were tortured and killed in the dirty war. Anthropologists like Luis Patricia are still trying to piece together the evidence but today it's an increasingly lonely business. 01.04
George looking at old records George: A lot of people, not least the authorities would now love to forget many of secret files once so carefully compiled by military assassins are missing or destroyed. 01.23
Evening street scenes George: The government has already pardoned the perpetrators and many ordinary citizens would now like to forget the past and to move on. Yet there are those who say Argentina owes it to the victims and to itself, not to bury the past - to do so they say would be to condemn Argentina to future betrayals.
Balloons, people in square, intv George: The mothers of the Missing don't forget. 02.03
with woman,
letting balloons go, people looking up, intv with woman Woman: I didn't know it was a crime to work in a shanty town. My daughter was murdered for helping the poor.
George: For 19 years they have made the Plaza De Mayo a square of remembrance - a shrine for the collective memory - and a thorn in the national conscience. 02.24
Woman: She disappeared 24th December 1975, my husband 11 June 1976. He was involved in a trial against the military who were charged with murdering my daughter. My daughter's husband disappeared 24th March, 11th May this girl and her husband and on 19th May 1977 my son and his wife. 02.38
Interior, people standing around, George walks through George: While the mothers want to remember, there is another generation that now wants to discover. 03.14
Poster, young kids in room, on stairs, intv with some of them These are the children of those who disappeared. For many years they've carried their pain like a guilty secret - now they want something more.
Young Man: Justice would be the revenge. The imprisonment of the murderers, kidnappers and torturers of our parents. I'm not sure if you could call it revenge, but it would be justice. That's what we demand. 03.34
Young Woman: That would be the normal justice. It is normal for this type of murderer to be locked away for life. It's what would happen anywhere else.
George: They feel doubly betrayed - first by the Generals, now by a democratic Government they feel has absolved the killers while turning its back on the victims. 03.58
Interview with young man Young Man: The way they acted in the concentration camps - the way they killed off a whole generation - if these people are on the loose, it can happen all over again. For a long time we believed in this government's justice but they betrayed us - they passed laws to let the perpetrators free.
Men playing Music 04.30
guitars, people
watching, waving, walking along, George inside shop, George: There seems good reason to forget nowadays. Life in Argentina is so much better. 04.49
The memories that flood back now are welcome memories of the 20s and 30s. Argentina's greatest years when it was a world power. 05.02
With it has come a new pride and a time when Argentina was great. A time when its most celebrated export was a dance.
Tracking shot to entrance to club, people dancing Today at the local suburban hop in Buenos Aires, rock 'n roll and disco are out. Instead they are dancing to recordings made on old 78s more than half a century ago. 05.34
Tango is back with a vengeance, discovered by a whole new generation. And while old timers revel in half forgotten memories, youngsters are suddenly eager to follow in their footsteps.
George walking in to television studio, quick cuts of people dancing tango, tango signs Cashing in on the nostalgia, there's now even a television station for aficionados. It's called Solo Tango and it plays nothing but, what else - Tango - in all it's forms - 24 hours a day. 06.14
Record player Tango Music 06.33
man with record
player, George walking down stairs with Eleo, they speak about Gardel George: All this is no surprise to old timers like Eleo Giorgetti who've always known that tango and Argentina belong hand in glove.
George: Carlos Gardel is the one, great mythic figure of Tango, the beauty of his voice and the despair of his songs still touch a deep cord in the Argentines soul.
Eleo: No one can emulate him. He sang the very first tango, 'My Sad Night'. His voice was like an instrument the way he used it. He was like another instrument in the orchestra.
Old b/w movie footage, man singing and playingSuper fades on screen:CARLOS GARDEL'CUESTA ABAJO'(Gardel/Le Pero) George: At the height of his fame, Gardel died in a plane crash at 47 ... perfect circumstances around which to build an Argentine legend, a fitting end for the greatest exponent of the dark art of Tango. 07.31
Statue, paintings, flowers, intv with Eleo, plaques George: Though he died sixty years ago, Gardel's memory just keeps on smoking - universally loved, pilgrims to his tomb like Eleo keep him supplied every day. 07.50
Eleo: The people sometimes come here if they are feeling troubled. They see the good fortune he brings.
George: History becomes legend becomes myth - so it goes in Argentina. So with Gardel, so with the two other figures who have reached mythic proportions. One of them, former President General Juan Peron, is entombed nearby. 08.17
Intv with Eleo, Evita Peron's grave, intv continues Eleo: He undoubtedly attracted many people - but unfortunately he seems to be somewhat forgotten. As you can see there aren't too many flowers placed on this tomb. 08.34
George: But internationally, it's Peron's wife, Evita, who puts both Gardel and the General in the shade - for her story contains universal themes of betrayal and tragedy.
Eleo: And of course they're making a movie about her 'Evita'. I think there'll be many movies about her still to come. It seems she is becoming like Gardel. 09.06
Demo on street, banners, TV cameraman, people George: There's nothing more controversial than tampering with a legend. 09.24
milling around
people with banners The setting is real enough - it's the Presidential Palace - but it's Hollywood all over. The American singer, Madonna is playing the lead role in the musical, Evita - outraging Argentines for whom the real Evita has become an idol.
They remember Evita's love for the poor whom she called 'my shirtless ones'. Most would rather forget that together the Perons presided over an era of social, economic and political disintegration and of brutal repression of anyone who stood in their way.
Intv with Felipe NogueraSuper:FELIPE NOGUERAPolitical Analyst Noguera: Evita was a very controversial figure. When the Peronists movement sort of exploded on the scene in 1945, she was there, the head of it. And this made a lot of poorer people disenfranchised and really love her and saw her as a saint. 10.09
And of course she died only 7 or 8 years later so she didn't live long enough to prove anybody wrong. And on the other hand, the people that saw her methods and her power grab and the way she managed the Evita Foundation, all these things as an affront to the established order in Argentina hated her. And to an extent, continues to our days.
Couple dancing Music 10.52
tango in club
people watching George: Every night Evita and Juan Peron's Argentina legend is acted out once more - in the tango halls. A young woman escapes the slums - an older man, besotted, takes her on to wealth and glory - there is glamour, betrayal, tragedy and death.
Actors putting on make up, fixing hair, getting dressed From the dance halls to the theatres, Tango is a metaphor - it's hopelessly romantic, but its origins are real enough. 11.45
Intv with Jose GarofaloSuper:JOSE GAROFALODancer Garofalo: I think it has to do with our history as migrants - gauchos who were always leaving. They were immigrants who left their families. It's charged with melancholy with the experience of exile - of always leaving something behind - nostalgia and loss comes through the lyrics. 11.56
Couple dancing tango George: This is what the tango is about - a dance from the brothels and slums of 19th century Buenos Aires - a dance between pimp and whore - a dance to evoke power, seduction and suffering. 12.26
Intv with Noguera Noguera: Perhaps this is the sort of country which people who've got here maybe didn't feel they deserved it or something because it's so full of promise and opportunity or perhaps promise and opportunity is something very hard to live up So there's always this feeling that things may look okay but any minute everything may tumble down, it may all be an illusion.
McDonaldís, street, traffic, crowds of people, signs, taxis George: On the surface there seems little reason for such foreboding. Under President Carlos Menem the nation has seen an extraordinary turn around these past four years. 13.11
Democracy seems firmly in place, hyper-inflation of 5000 % is down to 4 %, the local and international business communities are ecstatic. But this little economic beauty is still only skin deep.
Man asleep in grass, boys playing soccer, man watching, girl watching, boys playing soccer Just a stroll away from the booming city centre lies a slum of 12,000 souls. Fifty years ago it was set up as a temporary shanty town for the poor - their poverty now seems permanent. 13.49
Government promises proved illusory and Evita's shirtless ones wonder why this latest economic miracle has passed them by.
Interview with priestSuper: Fr. Enrique Evangelista Fr. Evangelista: One of the major criticism from the archbishops is that there is no social plan to alleviate the unemployment situation this system has brought about. We have 22 % unemployment and there are no social benefits which would enable the government to assist the most needy. 14.15
Interview with NogueraSuper:FELIPE NOGUERAPolitical Analyst Noguera: I would say that a tremendous amount has been accomplished in the past five years. The problem is that a tremendous amount needs yet to be accomplished so we are somewhere in between. The incredible thing about the period between ‘91 to ‘94 was the pace of change. Things happened very quickly with great political determination. After that things slowed down. 14.35
Demonstration, news reporter, people watching, speaking, listening, woman at microphone, suited men with phones George: For Argentines the gulf between rich and poor has always been wide - it's become wider still under a government that claims to have inherited the Peronist mantle of caring for the 'shirtless ones'. 15.12
Observed by men who have the all too familiar look of the secret police who ruled the streets for the Generals in the 70s, the mothers of the Plaza del Mayo have been joined now by other show feel they also have been betrayed.
Women, one speaking, Woman: They call him a hero - a hero - because he takes all the money and sends it on to the US. 15.46
Music
Slow motion shots: arms waving, suited men on phones, people watching, police, people waving arms George: While the government basks in the glory of international acclaim for bringing stability to Argentina, its own people are beginning to wonder whether they are being betrayed by an illusion. 16.03
Argentina for all its changes, has yet to escape the fears and forebodings that have dominated its history.
ENDS 16.37