Hold your seats fast! For there is another fiery documentary around the corner. On May 19, 2022, Netflix released The Photographer: Murder in Pinamar. The one hour and forty-six minutes long documentary will take us through the politically heated atmosphere of Argentina and focus on the death of Argentinian photojournalist Jose Luis Cabezas.
The co-writing team includes the names Tatiana Merenuk and Gabriel Bobillo. While Alejandro Hartmann is also one of the executive producers, Vanessa Ragone and Mariela Besuievsky have been a part of the executive production team.
The Plot
On the series’ description page on Netflix, the synopsis reads, “The crime of the photographer José Luis Cabezas, in the summer of 1997, shocks Argentina and reveals a mafia network in which the political and economic powers do not seem to be unrelated.
The consequences will be almost as dramatic as the crime itself, both for its instigator and the country.” The documentary again attempts to reassert the evil of governance and the mafia’s involvement in society’s underbellies, pulling the strings through the exploitation caused by money.
Freedom Of Press
The death of Jose Luis Cabezas was a lightning strike to every layman living in Argentina. This was a direct attack on the freedom of the press, for which people came out on the streets and protested this forced violence again.
It was a wake-up call for all; different media groups and human rights advocates asked for justice for Cabezas. The murder occurred during the times that one can consider the golden age of the press in Argentina.
The Conspiracy And Secrecy
For a long time in the initial investigation, it is believed that it is simply political motivation; where police put sheets over it. However, a name soon popped up that shook the investigation in another direction, “Alfredo Yabran.” No one had ever seen his face in public; no photographs, no visual identification marker was present for him.
This link led to new leads, and rumors started painting a whole new reality. Many people were apprehended from the area known as Los Hornos in the Bueno Aires province, and the case was put on trial in 2000 for the murder of Jose Luis Cabezas. They were sent to jail in feburary.
The Teaser
“Taking a picture of me is like shooting myself in the forehead,” almost horrifyingly; this line appears in the teaser released by Netflix. Yabran wanted to remain a ghost, but Cabezas was on his righteous mission.
The film is rates 16 and up, with children under 16 requiring parental supervision. Netflix describes it as provocative and investigative. Such unearthing of realities sure calls for a mature mind to deal with the complex reality we live in.
