With "Te extraño," (English captions), Mexican director Fabián Hofman has used the fate of Argentina's 3,000 or more desaparecidos to illustrate the political turmoil of the late 1970s which resulted when a ruthless military dictatorship took power in 1976. Those people are neither living nor dead, as they have disappeared without a trace.
We become acquainted with a pair of brothers: the younger one still in high school, the older one active in a revolutionary group opposed to the dictatorship. There are many night meetings, concealed weapons--including grenades--and covert operations. The upshot is that the older brother disappears and the family is afraid the younger one will, as well. They send him to stay with an aunt in Mexico but he is anxious and restless, so he is sent to Uruguay, where he reunites with his parents and his senile grandmother.
The ending was abrupt, mystifying and unsatisfactory. The press screening audience at the 2010 Seattle International Film Festival was mostly frustrated, and I was no different; I prefer endings with some sort of resolution, for good or ill...
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