RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – “Argentinian? Maradona!” In this way, many times, it has been synthesized how people abroad identify a citizen of the country. For years, the figure of Lionel Messi could have replaced the national seal printed by “el Diego”, although the purpose was the same.
“Mate”, “asado”, and tango are other themes associated with Argentine identity, but this may be perhaps a sweetened vision that people have, at home, with respect to the image offered by the territory.
Ego is another characteristic that is highlighted. This was captured in the old joke that Pope Francis himself told, years ago, about his fellow citizens: “Do you know how an Argentinean commits suicide?” he asked a journalist and quickly revealed the answer: “He climbs on his ego and throws himself from there”.
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Perhaps because this humor is quite true, it is believed that the country is known only for its sports stars, its traditional food, or its typical dance. What is worrisome is that it is also known for less gracious matters. One example is the image that those who watch Netflix will have of the country.
These days, there are at least three movies on that site that refer to the country in a literal way. Long Shot, Red Notice, and the French comedy Spoiled Brats. Beyond the quality of each one, it is striking the Argentine stereotype they show as an unfortunate coincidence.
The first one, the 2019 film starring Charlize Theron and Seth Rogen, is about a U.S. Secretary of State who goes on a world tour with a journalist writing her speeches.
One of the many destinations she visits, one in Buenos Aires, and, in passing, the co-star makes a joke about the country being a refuge for Nazis. A crutch used by many screenwriters in different movies or series. From Super Agent 86 to X-Men, plenty of moments place Argentina as a sanctuary for Nazism.
Another example is seen in this year’s action film starring Ryan Reynolds, which reprises the Nazi theme with the search for a hidden treasure in someplace that alludes to Misiones. In this case, it’s not a passing comment but several minutes of the film focus on that idea.
It is clear that the treatment and the rigorousness of facts and places are questionable, but they are based on the past of a country that opened its doors to several war criminals.
The third film, of little pretension, is a simplistic comedy about a French upper-class family. There are no references to Nazism here, but it touches on another side that often defines the Argentine stereotype.
The story is beside the point, except that one of the characters is an Argentinean. He is a trickster and blackmailer – the typical racketeer – who only seeks his father-in-law’s fortune.
At one point in the film, this character claims to have a lot of money in Argentina but cannot dispose of it because of the economic crisis. Later on, he alludes to the fact that the properties he has in the country were confiscated by the dictatorship.
Although the country cannot be summarized in these simple ideas, it must be assumed that, at least, it is part of the image of the country abroad, at least from the point of view of directors and scriptwriters from the first world, even if they fall into familiar places. This is true for Argentina, but it is not exclusive.
Argentine leading man Ricardo Darín defined it very well when he told the reason that led him to reject a proposal to work in Hollywood: “They offered me to play a Mexican drug trafficker, and I did not want to do it. If (the United States) is the country with the highest consumption on the face of the earth…”