Compared to the other movie (Flying Down to Rio) I liked this one a little better. The color and the cinematography was a great and the storyline was quite touching. The actors who played the Argentine characters were obviously not Argentinians nor were they Latinos and their speaking of English in terrible “Spanish” accents to emphasize the Argentine character for the English-speaking audiences makes the movie not so authentic in keeping with the setting of the story. Although it is unreal, this type of stuff was/is quite common in a lot of Hollywood films for example if anyone has seen old cold-war themed action movies, you’ll notice that the Russian bad guys are speaking English in Russian accents even among themselves. This tactic, I think is just general fictional part of the movie and the lack of resources for the movies makers to hire authentic speakers of the languages or even just to make the audiences understand the story more easily.

Reading through the posts of other classmates I noticed a lot of them say this movie is somewhat of a “cultural appropriation” of Argentina or that the setting of the film stereotypically portrays Argentina as this dance-musical tipsy place, but I think the purpose of the movie was just to present and promote Argentina from an entertaining perspective. In my view the central focus of the movie is a love story between Ricardo and Binnie and nothing more. Just like Flying Down to Rio, this film only uses the “foreign” (Argentina) place as a mere stage and backdrop of the film. I’m certain the director and the producers probably knew they could not portray Argentina at a 100% accurate way or they just didn’t knew much about the country too well in a sense. But, I’m certain the film did not try or had intention to disparage or smear Argentina in a negative light. Seeing Carmen Miranda perform at the beginning of the film and according to sources, during the production of the film, a film crew were sent to Buenos Aires to film various panoramic shots of the city, this shows the film did somewhat try to retain and add some “Latin” character into the film. Although I did wished they hired real Argentine actors and filmed the authenticity and the culture of Argentina, we have to understand the movie is a mere fantasy and a work of fiction created for a majority American audiences and I’m sure most movie-goers then and now didn’t care much about authenticity or details but rather more drawn attention to performance and story.

All in all, Down Argentine Way is a typical American rom-com with a small touch of “Latin-ness” that tried to make it as unique as possible. As Americanized and having a not-so-genuine Argentinian cast, movie shined a positive light in telling a story of romance and showing musical talents. It is obvious the film is a misrepresentation but in the end Down Argentine Way is a work of fiction that portrays romance and music in a positive and entertaining manner.