Lucía Puenzo

Wakolda comes from the Mapuche, Indians from Patagonia. In the film the girl has a little doll named Wakolda, her alter ego, an imperfect doll. In the novel, there is a strong subplot of purity and mixed races. We are all people of mixed blood on our continent, but many thought this title was hermetic.

So, you were not developing this material from a Jewish perspective.

Not so much. The Jewish community in Buenos Aires embraced this story. It was a huge success everywhere in schools and universities. They were the first to say, this is not just a Jewish story, but one that every community should be concerned about. Complicity. The whole society kept silent.

He was not going to find any other country that would welcome a man like him with more open arms. Within two years he had found employment with a pharmaceutical company, bought a two-storey house in Vicente López, married his brother’s widow, thus duplicating with this union a million-dollar inheritance. He even went so far as to list himself in the telephone book under his real name. He had no need to go under a surgeon's knife or change his name as so many others had. (p13)