Night of the Pencils (1986)

• 83%
• 1986
• Drama
• Héctor Olivera
• Alejo Garcia Pintos
• Vita Escardó
• Pablo Novak

This films tells the true story of seven teenagers who agitated for reduced student bus fares under two different regimes in Argentina, with tragic results. At first succeeding under the government of Isabel Peron, their protests draw hostile attention from the military regime that overthrows Peron. The ensuing crackdown on student social activists is demonstrated when police break up a school dance wielding swords on horseback. Later, six students are kidnapped in the middle of the night, and the police deceitfully claim ignorance about their whereabouts. Pablo (Alejo Garcia Pintos), a seventh member of the group is later arrested and learns that they have been brutally tortured by authorities. He survives to tell their story, but the six are never found, numbering among the hundreds of students who were kidnapped and are still missing.