Like Juan Moreira, The Harshness of Destiny is concerned with reclaiming the past, and bringing stories from dark into the light. Made in 1985, one year into the new democracy, it tells of a young boy's return from exile to stay with his grandfather in the Tucuman region of Argentina, historically a site of popular struggle. Director Gerardo Vallejo, together with Solanas and Getino (Hour of the Furnaces) a member of Cine Liberación, himself returned from exile to Tucuman to develop a regional cinema. The province, beautifully revealed in panoramic shots, is a central "character" in his film and a specifically Argentine one, distinct from the Europeanized Buenos Aires, the setting of virtually all Argentine films. From his grandfather's anecdotes, and his father's diary, the young boy unravels the story of his father, a labor lawyer for local sugar workers. His rediscovery of one man's story of activism parallels a nation's attempts to recover a collective memory from the "official story." Director Vallejo views the film as reflecting "the possibility of attempting to search for identity, inward and outward." This is perhaps best exemplified in the old man's relationship with his grandson: clearing weeds, setting traps for varmits, he impresses on the boy the importance of living a productive life, and metaphorically presents the possibility of resisting forces that prey on the lives of others. Kathy Geritz