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Argentinian director Juan Solanas is in San Sebastián where the international film festival is being held to present his documentary " La ola verde ", which tells the green wave that swept Argentina during the debate in the Chamber of Deputies and then in the Senate of the law proposing the decriminalization of abortion. A text fiercely debated in the benches of the assemblies and in the street.
From our special correspondent in San Sebastián,
Many wore the green scarf of the campaign for free, safe and free abortion in Argentina on the red carpets of the San Sebastián festival on Tuesday 24 September. The Ola verde: that sea ley, presented out of competition in the Latino Horizontes section, is a committed documentary. His title is clear.
We see in particular Senator Pino Solanas , father of the renowned director and filmmaker, who was one of the spokesmen of the campaign. When he spoke in the Senate, he assured the defenders of the law that even if it did not happen this time, they would win the day. History will prove them right, he said. A strong, premonitory and comforting speech since the bill was indeed rejected by the Senate in August 2018 by 38 votes against 31 and two abstentions when it had been voted by the Chamber of Deputies.
Take a look at the chicas están afuera: esto es a monumental triumph porque hemos logrado ... ¡ellas han logrado! ¡Ellas! Introduce a fundamental debate. # AbortoSesiónHistórica #AbortoLegalYa # SeráLey
Pino Solanas (@fernandosolanas) August 9, 2018The debate has raised in Argentine society many questions of a religious, moral and social nature that are mentioned in the documentary. Sociologists, theologians, actors of social life, activists speak in short sequences to defend the bill. The hypocrisy of the Argentinean society is underlined: the prohibition of the legalization of the abortion penalizes mainly the poor women and the young girls. A single figure: of the 320 million Latin American women, only 8% of them can freely terminate their pregnancy.
Young and poor, double punishment
Being young and poor like Liliana Herrera and it's double punishment, sanctioned by death. This young mother of two already died at 22 years of sepsis following a clandestine abortion. She became the symbol of this cause: in the hospital where she was received in the province of Santiago del Estero, care was lavished late to punish her for having aborted, says the family. The film takes us to her home on the desolate and semi-arid lands of Santiago del Estero: her bare little blockhouse, her two little daughters, her parents with faces marked by poverty. Strong images.
More recently, one case has aroused outrage; that of an 11-year-old child who was raped by a loved one and pregnant and had to have a caesarean section because the doctors voluntarily delayed making the family-requested pregnancy termination to which she was entitled.
The drums of anger
Argentine law provides that justice may authorize an interruption of pregnancy in extraordinary circumstances of rape, or danger to the mother. Apart from these cases, a woman who has an abortion can be sentenced to a prison term of one to four years. Cut into chapters, with strong support for the message, the striking figures of the scourge of early pregnancies and illegal abortions, the documentary gives voice to several priests of the poor, shantytowns. Themselves face these dramas, they also plead for decriminalization of abortion in the name of equality and social justice.
Two million people were on the streets in Buenos Aires at the time of the Senate discussions. Since then, a new bill has been brought to elected officials in May 2019. Opposite, the support of the right to life also have their voice heard and the documentary of Juan Solanas also makes them a small place, but their drums resonate with less force. The drums of militants (e) s of decriminalization, strong and luminous images, have not finished resonating in Argentina.
► To listen also : [Reportage] Right to abortion in Argentina: women ready to go back to the front