Film Analysis – Daniel Burman’s El Abrazo Partido/Lost Embrace
Group name: El Quijote
Tutor name: Yolanda Reyes
Title: Film Analysis – Daniel Burman’s El abrazo partido/Lost Embrace
Lost Embrace is an Argentinean movie written and directed by Daniel Burman about a Jewish family and its daily struggles for a normal existence in a foreign country. The story presents a general idea of the lives of immigrants surviving an economic crisis and succeeding to work together no matter the circumstances. Balancing a mixture between comedy and drama, Daniel Burman tries to show some actual problems in the country that also affected him; therefore this is an autobiographical movie. With a cultural diverse background established by the varied ethnicities, forced to invade the land because of the poverty that stricken their own homes, Argentina is defined as a “multicultural and multiethnic country where… different cultures, traditions and cults harmoniously coexist”[1].
Ariel Makaroff, the main character in the movie, lives with his mother, Sonia, in a cosmopolitan neighborhood of Buenos Aires where they run a small business called “Creaciones Elias”, a woman’s lingerie store. Elias Makaroff, the father, left them a long time ago, when Ariel was very little, and went to fight in a war in Israel from which he forgot to come back home. Even though he calls regularly to check up on the family, Ariel avoids talking to him or about him, for that matter, not being able to forgive what he did. He never understood the motive behind Elias’ decision to leave and his mother never explained it to him.
Like many others, the Makaroffs were Jewish descendants that fled from Poland during the Second World War looking for a safe shelter elsewhere. Pushed by the economic crisis and an undefined future, Ariel decides to become a Polish citizen and travel to Europe where he can start a new and better life. In other words, Lost Embrace analyses the identity factor, the way he encounters new things about a past life, about his roots; a history that
Tutor name: Yolanda Reyes
Title: Film Analysis – Daniel Burman’s El abrazo partido/Lost Embrace
Lost Embrace is an Argentinean movie written and directed by Daniel Burman about a Jewish family and its daily struggles for a normal existence in a foreign country. The story presents a general idea of the lives of immigrants surviving an economic crisis and succeeding to work together no matter the circumstances. Balancing a mixture between comedy and drama, Daniel Burman tries to show some actual problems in the country that also affected him; therefore this is an autobiographical movie. With a cultural diverse background established by the varied ethnicities, forced to invade the land because of the poverty that stricken their own homes, Argentina is defined as a “multicultural and multiethnic country where… different cultures, traditions and cults harmoniously coexist”[1].
Ariel Makaroff, the main character in the movie, lives with his mother, Sonia, in a cosmopolitan neighborhood of Buenos Aires where they run a small business called “Creaciones Elias”, a woman’s lingerie store. Elias Makaroff, the father, left them a long time ago, when Ariel was very little, and went to fight in a war in Israel from which he forgot to come back home. Even though he calls regularly to check up on the family, Ariel avoids talking to him or about him, for that matter, not being able to forgive what he did. He never understood the motive behind Elias’ decision to leave and his mother never explained it to him.
Like many others, the Makaroffs were Jewish descendants that fled from Poland during the Second World War looking for a safe shelter elsewhere. Pushed by the economic crisis and an undefined future, Ariel decides to become a Polish citizen and travel to Europe where he can start a new and better life. In other words, Lost Embrace analyses the identity factor, the way he encounters new things about a past life, about his roots; a history that
Bibliography: Unknown author, ‘Q&A : Argentina’s economic crisis’. BBC News, Feb. 12th 2003. Available at http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/1721061.stm Mi Querido Buenos Aires ( 1999-2011) Cine Nacional (2001-2011). Available at http://www.cinenacional.com/ (accessed 17/10/2012) Galán, Diego Ayaso, José. “Entre Israel y la Diáspora: El Abrazo Partido (Daniel Burman, 2004)” Metakinema: revista de cine e historia 2009.