Imagining Argentina

Reflecting on Carlos’s story about Cecilia, Martín experiences a moment of doubt, wondering if Carlos’s visions are merely reflections of his career as a storyteller. Martín attributes this sudden worry to the intimacy of Carlos’s vision, as Martín, too, aches to see Cecilia again. 

Meanwhile, more and more protesters join the mothers on the Plaza de Mayo. The local papers also grow more brazen in their criticism of the junta. One day, Martín meets Eugenia at Cafe Raphael. Over lunch, Eugenia tells Martín about an old friend whose pregnant granddaughter, Isabel, had been abducted. Isabel gave birth in prison, and her child was quickly taken away. However, sometime later, the child was returned to Isabel, and they both were returned home. 

Two of Martín’s old colleagues, Federico Paz and Manuel Salazar, join him and Eugenia. Together, the group anticipates that the junta will soon collapse. However, Martín is skeptical that the generals will ever face justice. 

Later, when visiting the Plaza de Mayo, Martín chats with one of the mothers. The mother expects that the generals will destroy any damning evidence and escape their comeuppance. Martín shares the mother’s concern. That night, he dreams of Cecilia, gathering vegetables in a large garden. As she wipes the sweat from her brow, a group of singing children surrounds her.

As the junta begins to unravel, Carlos chats with Martín, speculating about the generals’ reaction. Carlos imagines them dressed in their finest, dripping with medals and trying to conceal their franticness. Meanwhile, some of the disappeared return home, and Carlos is allowed to reopen the Children’s Theater. Carlos prepares for the final stretch. 

Martín accompanies Carlos to the Plaza de Mayo. Briefly, Carlos enters a trance, imagining Cecilia’s hiding place in the pampas. Martín considers telling Carlos about his dream but falters. Before he can commit, Dolores Gardel runs up to Carlos, dragging her son, Raul, by the hand. Dolores thanks Carlos profusely, explaining that Raul has recently returned home. Raul’s journey, by his own telling, had exactly resembled Carlos’s vision.

Carlos is glad to witness Dolores’s relief but knows his own satisfaction still eludes him. He considers abandoning the city and seeking Cecilia in the pampas but ultimately decides to stay put, knowing that Cecilia must come to him.

A week later, Carlos quits his job at Cafe Bidu and returns to work at the Children’s Theater. As he readies the theater for its reopening, Carlos removes the plywood from its doors. The nails have ruined the carved images from Alice in Wonderland and The Wizard of Oz. Carlos briefly considers repairing the damage but ultimately decides to use the doors as reminders. 

One day after work, Carlos drives through La Boca and passes Señora Madrigal’s house. Noticing that the broken shoe is no longer outside, Carlos knocks on the door to inquire. Señora Madrigal explains that she’d moved the shoe indoors once its strap broke. When she offers the shoe to Carlos, he accepts.

On his way home, Carlos purchases two parakeets. Though he has yet to receive any message from Cecilia, Carlos imagines that she is safe in the pampas, spending her days with the Souzas.

As human rights advocates arrive in Argentina, the generals work quickly to remove evidence of their brutality. Carlos hopes that his imagination can rival this speed, and he begins holding garden sessions twice a week, on Monday and Thursday. By this point, Carlos has lost weight, and Martín expresses his concern. Carlos, however, says he draws strength from his parakeets’ song. 

One night, as Carlos conducts a meeting in the garden, Martín drifts inside. Exploring Carlos’s study, Martín discovers Cecilia’s missing shoe. Though Carlos has interpreted its discovery as a sign, Martín credits it only as a coincidence. As the parakeets sing, Martín studies a Picasso print, depicting a guitarist. Surprisingly, Martín is reminded not of Carlos but Cecilia. As he thinks back to his dream, in which he’d envisioned Cecilia tending a garden, he listens to Carlos’s faint voice.

Carlos works in the theater every day, intending to produce a new play. He balances his time at the theater with his garden sessions, which still attract plenty of visitors. Secretly, Martín hopes that Carlos will let Cecilia rest. One night, during a break in a session, Carlos invites Martín to join him on a stroll. As they walk, Carlos admits that tonight is his last meeting. 

Once he and Martín return, Carlos urges the crowd to picture the generals. These are the men, Carlos alleges, who will look back on the junta without any remorse. Then, Carlos weaves a complicated image, describing the generals as they cover a cave entrance. The generals use branches and rocks to disguise the cave amongst its surroundings, but make sure that someday, they’ll be able to find it again. The generals think their return is inevitable and anticipate Argentina’s rebirth.

Carlos admits that he struggles to imagine the end of Cecilia’s story. Drawing strength from Amos and Sara Sternberg’s story, Carlos still hopes that Cecilia will return to him, in her own time. His ignorance, he admits, is part of the story. 

After the group breaks up, Carlos returns to the house. Martín, still sitting outside, listens as Carlos strums his guitar, taking up the melody from The Names. In the background, the parakeets chirp, and Martín hears an owl amongst the eucalyptus trees. As he watches Carlos, Martín likens him to Picasso’s guitarist, as though he were ageless.

As human rights organizations continue their investigations, Buenos Aires newspapers report a staggering number of missing persons. The mothers vow to keep protesting until everyone is accounted for.

After reading a tabloid article about Carlos’s gift, Reverend Johnston, an American evangelist, travels to Argentina. He offers Martín a generous sum, on the condition that Martín facilitate a meeting with Carlos. As Martín considers, Reverend Johnston produces a copy of the story about Carlos—authored and sold by Manuel Salazar. Perusing the article, Martín fumes to realize that Salazar has characterized Carlos as little more than a charlatan. After dismissing Reverend Johnston, Carlos finds Salazar at Cafe Raphael. He upbraids Salazar and promises to complain to Salazar’s editor, ruining his career.

Martín warns Carlos about the article, but Carlos is preoccupied. He asks Martín to accompany him to the Carnival in La Boca, but Martín, much to his regret, chooses to miss it.

The next Saturday, Carlos watches the Carnival parade as it weaves through the streets of La Boca. While the music blares, a crowd of costumed spectators pushes in close. Soon, Carlos is swept up in the parade. 

Moving with the crowd, Carlos turns down an adjacent street. Suddenly, he notices an owl logo on a parked truck, advertising the name “Souza.” Struggling against the crowd, Carlos fights back toward the truck. He recognizes its driver as Ernesto and begs to see Cecilia. Ernesto, recognizing Carlos, moves to help—until Cecilia herself calls out Carlos’s name. Looking up, Carlos spies Cecilia in a window. As he weeps, she gestures for him to meet her at the building’s side. Pushing through the crowd, Carlos reaches the building and finds a door. When he opens it, Cecilia is waiting for him at the top of a staircase.

The next day, Cecilia surprises Martín, calling him to let him know she’s reunited with Carlos. Martín realizes that he will always remember Cecilia’s call. He also vows to remember the mothers and their protest, as well as the jubilation following the junta’s defeat. 

Four years after Cecilia’s return, she, Carlos, Esme, and Martín watch the generals’ trials. Packed into a crowded courtroom, they listen, rapt, to witness testimony. For a moment, Martín worries that the regime’s horrors might be blunted by statistical analysis, but prosecutor Julio Strassera delivers an emotional closing argument. 

Watching the proceedings, Martín is reminded of Hannah Arendt, a German-American historian who had similarly watched Adolf Eichmann’s trial. Eichmann, an SS officer and major architect of the Holocaust, had hidden in Argentina after the Third Reich’s collapse. Eventually, in the early 1960s, he was captured by Israeli intelligence officers and tried for crimes against humanity. Bitterly, Martín wonders why Argentina ever allowed him refuge.

After the sentences are pronounced—Guzman and Videla earn life imprisonment—Strassera chants “Nunca más!” (212), translating to “never again.” Cecilia and other onlookers join Strassera in the chant. As the generals pass by, filing out of the courtroom, Cecilia announces each by name. 

As they settle back into routine, Carlos and Cecilia move into an apartment. Cecilia resumes her role at La Opinión, while Carlos continues his work at the Children’s Theater. One night, Carlos offers Martín a sneak peek at a new play, inspired by his experience at the Carnival. As Martín reads, he looks out the window, distracted by two boys playing on a swing set. Martín ends the story with a feeling of continuity, confident that Carlos’s work is reflected in the carefree laugher of the children.