One or Two Questions
3h 56m
Directed by Kristina Konrad • Documentary • 2018 • 237 minutes
What do peace and justice mean to you?
In 1986, the Uruguayan Parliament approved a law granting amnesty for all crimes and human rights violations committed by the army and police during the dictatorship (1973-1985). This impunity law prevented continuing investigations into the disappeared and abuses of power committed during the civil-military regime and thus sparked a popular initiative demanding a referendum.
One or Two Questions collects and meshes together, exhaustively and over four hours, visual and auditory material that a Swiss television crew recorded in the streets of Uruguay between 1987 and 1989. The result is impressive, devastating, and unique. It turns this film into a manifesto, a testimony of the capacity of documentary cinema (and archives) to unravel the complexity of history. The work combines street interviews carried out amid the debate on the memory and future of the country, with material recorded on television from the streets, avenues, and parks of the city. In this way, and as if it were a time capsule, the film gives us a rare glimpse into a country and its anonymous protagonists at the exact moment of their transformation.