Transatlantic interpretations of Das Lied in mir/El día que no nací (Cossen, 2010): The appropriation of children in Argentina as narrated in German cinema

In this article I analyse the German movie Das Lied in mir/El día que no nací by Florian Cossen (2010) as an example of the European narration of crimes committed by the last Argentinian military junta. Latin American dictatorships are symbolic places of memory which suggest and permit a moral reflection about the crimes of the state in global terms. My point of departure is that the movie, which deals with the illegal appropriation of children, has various potential receptions that are enabled by both the story and intermedial references. I focus on how the film introduces a new approach in the discussion about the politics of memory by relating it to other Argentinian movies and intellectual discourses about this topic. Against this background, the article discusses two different interpretations: first, from an intercontinental perspective, the movie reminds us of the ignominious European responsibility for crimes committed by South American dictatorships. Second, without this historic-political reflection, it suggests an existentialist meaning directed at an international public.