La Perla, about the Camp

synopsis

Many ask themselves if it is at all possible to give an account of the horrors of concentration camps. Director Pablo Baur reached the conclusion that this type of representation is possible, however only if there is a radical departure from the dominant form of film language. He divided his film essay about the former Argentinian concentration camp La Perla into 19 sections, each of which treats the formal resources in its own distinct way. We encounter various views of the location in question, ranging from 180° panoramic shots of the surrounding landscape, to black-and-white figures providing absurdly detailed information about the institution’s daily operations. Taken together, they do not form one comprehensive portrait, but rather a network of mutually interwoven discourses.

“My city harbored a concentration camp and I am not indifferent to that. I seek to offer my viewpoint, a viewpoint committed to the real.”

biography

Pablo Baur (1966) is an Argentinian documentary filmmaker, scriptwriter, and producer. In his directorial works he has thus far always applied a personal approach, whether the format of the work is an essay or an intimate portrait. Particularly worth mentioning are his films Antonio’s Steps (2007), in which he portrays his grandfather’s daily rituals, and Dreamer (2010), in which he examines the historical role of the Spanish-Argentinian builder Juan Bialet Massé.

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