In Argentina, where independent films can take years to make and even longer to reach theaters, it is rare for one to premiere at precisely the right moment. The Victors (originally Los vencedores), director Pablo Aparo’s documentary about his experience in the Malvinas, seems to have been granted — or cursed with — a kind of perfect timing.

Just days after President Javier Milei addressed the nation and intensified Argentina’s sovereignty claim over the islands in a televised speech, accompanied by martial-toned announcements of little immediate consequence, the release of The Victors offers a shift in perspective that is as intelligent as it is moving — and, in a way, astonishing. 

Premiered at the Buenos Aires Independent Film Festival earlier this year, where it won both the Great Prize for best film in all competitions as well as the best director award in the international competition, the film is the result of Aparo’s trips to the islands between 2020 and 2024. 

While following a straight documentary format, the film nevertheless provides an unprecedented look at the Malvinas, both of the islands themselves and the people who live there. And it does so by challenging institutional warmongering, empty diplomatic slogans and, most importantly, the assumptions general audiences have long held about the islanders. 

In the beginning, though, Aparo takes us far from the Southern Atlantic seas and deep into ourselves. The first scenes feature an augmented reality exhibition somewhere in mainland Argentina, showing us visitors wearing goggles that........

© Buenos Aires Herald