- Welcome to Independent Lens.
I'm Pete Schwaba, host of PBS Wisconsin's Director's Cut.
"Bones make good witnesses.
"They may speak softly, but they don't lie,
and they never forget."
These are the words of Dr. Clyde Snow,
one of the stars of tonight's film, El Equipo.
El Equipo is Spanish for "the team."
In the early 1970s, Argentina was ruled
by de facto military groups.
As many as 30,000 Argentinians were made to disappear.
Many ended up in mass graves.
In an effort to hold those responsible accountable
and provide closure for families,
Dr. Clyde Snow headed to Argentina in 1984
to do just that.
Snow was already a famous anthropologist,
but he had turned to his true passion of forensics.
His work included helping identify the remains
of Joseph Mengele,
as well as victims of John Wayne Gacy.
El Equipo follows him as he trains a group
of young Latin American aspiring scientists
in the forensic arts while in South America.
Not only did Snow's young students, or "the team,"
help him bring justice
and convict hundreds of human rights violators,
many of his young apprentices went on
to have remarkably successful careers
in the field of forensics.
They formed the Argentine Forensic Anthropology Team
and traveled the world,
helping other countries rectify atrocities,
expanding the field of forensic science
and using it to help bring human rights offenders to justice.
El Equipo is directed
by two-time Emmy nominee Bernardo Ruiz.
Ruiz has a passion for human rights
and says he is drawn to Latin American stories.
El Equipo is Ruiz's fifth feature film.
With the aid of archival videos, photos, and audio interviews,
Ruiz transports the viewer back to 1980s South America.
Despite having so many assets at his disposal,
the director says having such a wealth of materials
created an editing challenge.
Ruiz says his goal was to create intimacy
by hearing the voices of El Equipo over the archival footage
as opposed to just using interviews.
Ruiz says the best material for a filmmaker like him
comes when his subjects get used to having him around
and like he's not even there, and then just start talking.
El Equipo has been called part procedural,
part true crime thriller.
That's a great combination for Monday night viewing.
El Equipo starts now on PBS Wisconsin,
your home for independent film.