As promised, here’s my critique for the Latin American audio description of Argentina 1985. I was able to find it on Audio Vault. You’ll find that I had a very different experience with this one.

For those unaware, audio description is a separate audio track added to visual media that describes visual aspects. It’s mainly intended for blind and visually impaired audiences, but can be enjoyed by and benefit anyone.

Audio Vault is a place where you can find a lot of audio described content. You get an mp3 audio track which you can download to your device. You can find content from any streaming service. Check out their web site if you’re interested.

https://audiovault.net/

Movie Premise

Based on real events, the movie follows the events leading up to and surrounding the 1985 Trial of the Juntas which prosecuted the leaders of Argentina’s bloodiest dictatorship that took place between 1976 and 1983. We follow the work of young, passionate, and inexperienced youth from the ages of 20 to 28 led by Prosecutors Julio Strassera and Luis Moreno Ocampo on their journey for justice.

Movie Information

Genre: Drama
Category: Adult
Explicit violence: No
Explicit sex: No
Content warnings I noticed: Discussions of torture, kidnapping, sexual assault, and birth

Review

I still don’t feel comfortable critiquing the audio description writing, so I won’t. However, I will say that, even with my issues with Spanish comprehension, I was able to understand it more. That’s a plus for me.

The descriptions are great. They’re very detailed without overwhelming the viewer. Characters’ physical features are described, but age is also used. Sometimes, both are used in a character’s description.

The only thing that confused me regarding the description is the mention of the walkman/cassette player. At some point, Julio’s music player was called a walkman and it seemed like it was called a cassette player the second time. Are they the same thing? If these are different devices, this is fine. However, if the same device is being described, either walkman or cassette player would be sufficient as a descriptor. That way, there’s less confusion.

The describer’s performance is great. They’re engaging while not being distracting. They also don’t interrupt the dialogue.

As I said in my previous post, I don’t know if Amazon Prime offers the movie in several languages. If they do, I hope they offer audio description in every language they offer the movie. In Audio Vault, I was only able to find the Latin American audio description, but this web site offers content for free. If I’m paying for a streaming service, I expect more.

Conclusion

Overall, this audio description is great. I really enjoyed it. It was very well done. Having listened to both the Spanish and Latin American audio descriptions, I prefer the Latin American one. It’s more detailed, thus providing a better picture. I rated this one four stars.