ARA San Juan The Submarine That Disappeared (ARA San Juan: El submarino que desapareció) is an Argentinian documentary series released on Netflix on March 7, 2024. It is produced by Cactus Cine and Marcus Sacchetti, while directed by Mauricio Albornoz Iniesta. It consists of eight episodes with a runtime of about 24-32 minutes.
The documentary investigates the events of November 15th, 2017, when the Argentine naval submarine ARA San Juan vanished from all radars with 44 crew members on board. The search brought the country to a standstill, as relatives waited for a miracle and persistently asked for news about their loved ones. However, the fate of the submarine and its crew remains unknown. What actually happened to them is still a mystery.
The series features Naval officers, Government officials, relatives of the crew members and journalists including Julian Maradeo, Gabriel Attis, Diego Diaz, Andres Klipphan, Fernando Morales, Luis Tagliapietra, Isabel Vilca, Malvinas Vallejos, Valeria Carreras, Guillermo Carmona, Nilda Garre, Ricardo Burzaco, Mariano Pi and others.
ARA San Juan The Submarine That Disappeared Review
The ARA San Juan (S-42), a TR-1700-class diesel-electric submarine was tasked with carrying out military surveillance exercises in the exclusive economic zone around Puerto Madryn, particularly in the role of combating illegal fishing. Carrying 44 crewmen, the submarine was coming back from Ushuaia to its base but raised an alarm when the submarine didn’t communicate with the base on their designated reporting time on November 16, 2017. Sending the Argentine Navy to start a search and rescue mission for the crew members.
However, after two weeks, the government downgraded the operation from a rescue mission to a search for the submarine’s wreck, implying they had given up any hope of finding survivors. Yet there was no explanation for what could have gone wrong with the submarine and how could the Navy come up to this grave conclusion so quickly. Soon after it was reported that in the last communication, the captain had shared a fire accident onboard or had suffered an electrical malfunction due to the sea water getting into the battery room. They believed it to be the reason that could have caused an implosion that was intercepted in the vicinity of the vessel’s last known location.
In an overview, it looks like an unfortunate accident which nobody had any control over. But what pained the families of the missing crew members was how the officers in charge and their own government handled the whole situation. Often times the word ’empathy’ comes up, something that was lacking in the behaviour and communication with the people in charge or in fact their own President. It makes one wonder if only they had handled everything with sincerity and kept a transparent communication with the bereaved, they wouldn’t be dragged through the pain again and again, to gain just a few honest answers.
But as the documentary progresses, it seems like the government is trying to hide something nefarious. The way they would put off or delay the process required to look for the debris at least and spy on the relatives of the 44 crew members and blatant mistreatment. One is bound to believe that the government had something to hide after how the remains of the submarine were found exactly after 1 year, on the anniversary of the tragedy. That too seems to be tampered with, as some parts would look brand new, instead of being corroded or dismantled due to being submerged for so long.
While the debris gives the bereaved an answer to what happened to their loved ones, there’s really no way to know the cause of the tragedy. Also, makes one question if they could have received these answers sooner if only the government had put in all their effort in finding any trace of the missing submarine and hadn’t abandoned it on a whim. Since the debris was found at the location where its location was last intercepted, there’s no doubt that an initial search mission would have found something then only. And if the government had the intel on that, why were they so reluctant to communicate the same to everyone?
From a third perspective, one could assume that to avoid the blame for any malpractice/function that led to the accident, the government tried to play dumb, despite having all the explanations. But their indifference as ‘just another accident’ or ‘it happens in their field’ is what dragged them and caused much pain to the grieving families for months. Even today, they feel like something is hidden and need the answers. There’s a possibility that it was just an accident nobody anticipated but the way the people in charge acted, made it all worse. And why would anyone put their lives in their hands, if it has such little or no value?
From playing dumb to blaming the missing crew members for not having enough training, to questioning the Captain’s long and successful career to hinting at a secret political attack from the UK and whatnot. The Argentine authorities turned a tragedy into some game, causing pain, distrust and humiliation to not only the bereaved but their whole nation.
And coming to the documentary and the style of presentation, one could feel something similar to the bereaving families while watching. It’s hard to understand why the documentary was stretched to eight parts, dragging the events much longer than needed, to sensationalise trivial things essentially. It could have been a three-part series at most and would have been better if they hadn’t used a narrative storytelling style – by using a journalist to tell the events, as if spinning a fable. The episodes in the middle do not impart any new information but feel repetitive and redundant. While they evidently criticise others, the creators are no better than exploiting the subject matter for personal profit.
Rating: 2.5/5
ARA San Juan The Submarine That Disappeared is available to watch on Netflix.