My Best Enemy

Instituto Cervantes in New Delhi in collaboration with the Embassy of Chile and Argentina presents the screening of the movie  My Best Enemy.

The respective foreign ministers signed it, with the Vatican Secretary of State as a witness. Due to the impossibility of reaching an agreement on the southern boundary between the two countries, very critical moments were experienced at the end of 1978, with the real possibility of a war breaking out between the two countries. There were troop mobilizations and simulation exercises to prevent air attacks and maximum alert by the armed forces of both countries. The war was actually avoided at the last minute, hours before the attacks began. It was avoided thanks to papal mediation guaranteed by Pope John Paul II and which committed both countries to find a negotiated solution, which was achieved with the Treaty of 1984.

In 2005, the film My Best Enemy was made, which recounts those hours of near war through the encounter of two military patrols, one Chilean and one Argentine, in Patagonia on the border between the two countries. It has won several awards and is an Argentine-Chilean-Spanish co-production. The Director is Chilean. The theme of the film (solving conflicts peacefully) is very pertinent especially in the times in which we live.