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- November 14, 2024
- 10:02
- 8 minutes of reading‘
Listen Note
Last Friday the 8th, the miniseries Cro-Magnon came to Prime Video. Throughout eight episodes, this production narrates the tragic fate of a group of friends who attended the fateful night in which the massacre occurred in the Cro-Magnon Republic. Through fictional characters, the story sets in motion the portrait of a generation crossed by an unexpected pain: that of seeing friends, family members or partners die during the recital of Strays celebrated on December 30, 2004. And within the framework of a series that presents ingredients of all kinds, below is a review of some of its most emotional and impressive scenes, accompanied by the testimony of Josefina Licitraone of the writers of the series, and Mercedes Reinckleexecutive producer of Cro-Magnon.
Episode five of the series is heartbreaking. After getting to know the protagonist group in depth, what their desires, objectives and ways of bonding are, but also their fears and regrets, making the viewer feel part of that gang, all hell breaks loose in Cromañón. Like those painful postcards that were broadcast on the news channels that December 30, the series recreates the chaos of the wounded, the dead and the survivors who gathered at the exit of the bowling alley. The panic of uncertainty, the anguish of not knowing what had happened to that loved one, and the desperate screams in search of that friend who did not appear, are the painful sound of a scene choreographed with surgical precision. Inside the place, young people ran without knowing which direction to run, and many died irremediably behind a closed exit, one of the countless negligences that made Cro-Magnon a massacre, and not a tragedy.
Josefina Licitra is a screenwriter for Cromañón, along with Pablo Plotkin and Martín VatenbergAlejandro Guyot
In terms of writing and production, carrying out this sequence represented a notable challenge, not only because of the impact of the events, but also because of the importance of reflecting the way in which that fire had a physical and emotional impact on the protagonists. For Josefina Licitra, “that sequence was quite complex to write because it takes place in two spaces, inside and outside of Cro-Mañón, in which many things happen at the same time.” And in the way of ordering and outlining the central group, the scriptwriter details: “With Martin Vatenbergmy writing partner, we first thought about what the line of each character was, where it began and ended, who they crossed paths with and how they sustained their essence, what each character “was” beyond the tragedy, in a sequence that had very little dialogue. In a way, the script for that episode was intended as a kind of navigation chart so that Mary (Rivasthe director) would take each itinerary and load it with her imprint, her look and her way, for me extraordinary, of constructing drama almost without words.”
From Mercedes Reinckle’s point of view, recreating that fire was a true odyssey in terms of filming, and she detailed: “We had around five hundred extras, and reconnecting with that I imagine that for the survivors who accompanied us on the set it must have been terrible. As always happens in our industry, what we see in 40 minutes was preceded by meetings, more meetings and many decisions such as questioning the smoke, what its color was, how to show that there was no light, or how to add a poetic layer to everything that It was at the same time a tribute to friendship. Because as we know, a significant part of the victims died trying to save their friends.”
The hours in which the number of fatalities increased were succeeded by the pain of not knowing. Hundreds and hundreds of fathers and mothers arrived in Cromañón not knowing if their children were alive, dead, or if they had been injured and taken to a hospital in the area. Thus began a night pilgrimage of uncertain destination. In some cases, the reunion was a reason for relief, in others and as happens to the character of Luis Machinthe outcome seemed tragic. And in that context, a part of the bureaucratic apparatus that had to deal with names, injuries and fatalities, appeared insufficient and not very empathetic to the pain of the relatives who needed a response.
That bureaucratic hell that those who wanted to find their children, friends or brothers went through is bitterly captured in the sixth episode of Cro-Magnonand it was another blow that hit not only the young people who found themselves inside the bowling alley, but also those relatives who were trapped in a chaos of morgues and guards, in search of finding that person who they did not know if he lived. or if he had died.
Pato Fontanet during a march in February 2005
Cro-Magnon It is not a documentary of denunciation nor does it seek to make a spectacle of tragedy, but rather it chooses to tell a fictional story, which reflects the pain of many anonymous stories that happened that night.
The series reflects key moments in the future of the post-Cro-Mañón, the trial against those responsible for the bowling alley and the role of Callejeros. In one scene, a group of survivors and relatives of victims debate whether Patricio Fontanet and his gang were responsible for what happened, giving shape to a debate that still persists today. The positions of the characters, some in favor of the band and others against, round out a moment of enormous importance. And the choice not to include songs from Callejeros is based on a position taken by those responsible for the project, as producer Mercedes Reinckle explains: “Since we started development, Armando (Boexecutive producer) stated that he did not want Callejeros’ music, and that it was a nice tribute to rock, to the victims and to our history, to leave that element out. I like Callejeros, so it caused me some doubts while we were preparing the series, but I feel that the decision was very good. The tribute is nice and it is very poetic that that element is not there, because it also accounts for everything that died and was broken that night.”
Cro-MagnonPrime Video Press
“From the beginning, our horizon was to show, or try to show, what was lost. What went out. The vitality that preceded the dark years,” expresses Josefina Licitra regarding the helm of the series. Because that violated generation is another aspect of how much was lost after Cro-Magnon. So the challenge of the series was to reflect the pain that boys and girls who lived together, perhaps silent, with the guilt of having survived at the expense of a friend who died to save them. And that is why the affective, romantic and emotional triangle between Nicolás (This Rovita), Malena (Olivia Nuss) and Lucas (José Giménez Zapiola) is vital. Licitra details: “With Cro-Magnon We seek to build that consciousness not so much from a rational place as from a physical one: working on the body’s memory. “Let the losses hurt.”
Soledad Villamil in CromañónCapture
The triangle of these protagonists is a valuable engine for the plot, and from the perspective of this series, soaking up the emotional universe of those teenagers is key to dimensioning the indescribable pain of that December 30. And what begins as a traditional story about teenagers turns into a nightmarish reality. The dream of dedicating themselves to music defines these kids, who are teenagers in the purest sense of the word, as the screenwriter expresses: “The challenge was to present the ambiguity with which desire and emotionality are handled when you are so young. . You make mistakes and you muddy the field more freely, which does not mean that you do not suffer and do not carry guilt, quite the opposite. Showing them ambiguous, erratic, confused and at the same time desiring, and at the same time full of goodness despite the batons that are sent, was something that we talked about and worked on as much as possible.”
The tribute to the victims where the bowling alley was, in OnceArchive
Finally, and about the way of representing and elaborating the connection with that age, the screenwriter concludes: “We did a process of rapprochement and empathy not only with the characters but with what we ourselves were when we were teenagers and we screwed up without too much. notion of the depth of the damage. If there is a time when you are ready to try and make mistakes freely, that time is adolescence. Understanding that cleared our outlook.”
For this reason, the final scene becomes that lifeline for which these characters fought so hard. Resignified music, and the recital as a phenomenon previously associated with death, is now a symbol of life.
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