A Twelve-Year Night (Spanish: La noche de 12 años) is a 2018 Uruguayan drama film directed by Álvaro Brechner. It premiered in Official Selection at the 75th Venice International Film Festival, and it was selected as the Uruguayan entry for the Best Foreign Language Film at the 91st Academy Awards, but it was not nominated. The film won the Golden Pyramid Award at the 40th Cairo International Film Festival.
The film is about the 12-year incarceration of members of the Tupamaros, a left-wing urban guerrilla group active in the 1960s and 1970s, 9 of whom were held as "hostages" between 1972 and 1985.
As a result, several characters are dramatizations of real people. Among them is José Mujica, who became the 40th President of Uruguay from 2010 to 2015.
The following weapons were used in the film A Twelve-Year Night:
The Colt M1911A1 is used by both Uruguayan soldiers and Tupamaro freedom fighters.
The M1911A1 was adopted by the Uruguayan Armed Forces in the 1960s and remained in service until it was replaced by the Glock 17.
Judging by their finish and barrel markings, the models used in the film could be Argentine-licensed DGFM Sistema Colt Modelo Argentino 1927 stand-ins, although it is difficult to notice.
During a Christmas holiday asado (Uruguayan and Argentinian BBQ), Uruguayan soldiers are seen celebrating, and one shoots skyward with a modern-production model Taurus PT92AFS, identified by its characteristic wider cocking serrations on the slide, rear sight and black grip panels (which differ from those of a Beretta 92FS Inox). The depiction of this weapon in the film is highly anachronistic and inaccurate: a Uruguayan soldier would not have carried this handgun back then, as the Taurus PT92 has never been standard-issue in the Uruguayan Armed Forces; in addition, the first stainless-steel model of this weapon was not introduced until 1985 (the year the Uruguayan dictatorship was toppled), and the one depicted in the film is the more modern 2000s model.
DGFM HP-35 pistols (Browning Hi-Power pistols built under license by Dirección General de Fabricaciones Militares of Argentina) are seen in the Tupamaro hideout next to some M1 Carbines.
In 1979, the Uruguayan Armed Forces acquired the 9mm DGFM HP-35 from Argentina. It is currently being phased out in favor of the Glock 17.
After raiding the house of Uruguayan journalist and notary Luis Martinera, where Tupamaros are hiding out, military intelligence officers plant false evidence to justify their violent actions. A Smith & Wesson Victory Model is planted on the dead body of Ivette, who is killed in cold blood when coming out of the house without uttering a single word.
Error creating thumbnail: File missingSmith & Wesson Victory Model - a modified and parkerized version of the Smith & Wesson Model 10 - this is a British "Lend Lease" version chambered in .38 S&WError creating thumbnail: File missingIvette Martinera (Soledad Gilmet) clutches a S&W Victory Model that was planted on her after being shot dead by Uruguayan soldiers, in order to justify the massacre.
Submachine Guns
IMI Uzi
The IMI Uzi is used by Uruguayan soldiers. Soldiers in the film mostly use them with the buttstock extended.
Historically, the Uzi was used and smuggled by Tupamaros from Uruguay into Brazil, in solidarity to help Brazilian rebels in Porto Alegre (as did Raúl Sendic to help Leonel Brizola). It was seen as a weapon of choice for guerrilla fighters due to how easily concealed it was.
The Uzi is still in use in the Uruguayan Armed Forces, in the full-sized Uzi, Mini Uzi and Micro Uzi variants. It is used in small numbers in the Air Force, by helicopter crews destined for the Congo and Eritrea, and also by the Navy, together with SECRON (Reconnaissance Section).
Error creating thumbnail: File missingIMI Uzi with buttstock extended - 9x19mmError creating thumbnail: File missingUruguayan soldiers in an Ural-4320 military truck escorting prisoners and wielding their Uzis. Note: the depiction of the Soviet Ural-4320 (in use in Uruguay since 1994, and in large numbers since 2001) in the 1973-1985 context of the film is highly anachronistic and inaccurate, as the Ural-4320 was introduced in 1976 in the USSR; in addition, US-aligned right-wing South American military dictatorships wouldn't have used them, due to military sanctions and restrictions on Communist-bloc hardware. Uruguayan Armed Forces used the US REO M34 and M35 instead.Error creating thumbnail: File missingUruguayan soldiers in an Ural-4320 military truck escorting prisoners and wielding their Uzis.Error creating thumbnail: File missingUruguayan soldiers conducting a raid on the house of journalist and notary Luis Martinera, armed with Uzis and FMAP FALs.Error creating thumbnail: File missingThe soldiers take advantage of the compact Uzis in a CQB environment during the raid on Martinera's home.Error creating thumbnail: File missingLuis Martinera (Álvaro Armand Ugón), Uruguayan journalist and notary, killed in his own home during the raid, clutching an Uzi that was planted on him after his death to justify the massacre.Error creating thumbnail: File missingA Uruguayan soldier (Agustín Pérez) draws his Uzi, suspecting Tupamaros hiding in the ceilingError creating thumbnail: File missingThe Uruguayan soldier aiming his Uzi at the ceiling, suspecting Tupamaros hiding there.Error creating thumbnail: File missingThe soldier carefully aiming his Uzi at the ceiling.Error creating thumbnail: File missingThe soldier returns to the Military Commander wielding his Uzi, to inform on the suspected Tupamaros hiding.Error creating thumbnail: File missingA soldier stands guard with his Uzi, as military intelligence officers fabricate and plant false evidence to justify the killings and arrests.
STAR Z-62/Z-63/Z-70
The STAR Z-62 submachine gun (developed by the Spanish arms manufacturer STAR Bonifacio Echeverría S.A. in 1962), is used by both Uruguayan soldiers and Tupamaro freedom fighters.
The STAR Model Z-63 and Z-70 variants were adopted by the Police and the Armed Forces of Uruguay, including the National Army of Uruguay and the Uruguayan Naval Prefecture. They are still currently in service, even among Army battalions.
Without a good look at the receiver or trigger, it is difficult to tell which variant is being used at any given time, since the STAR Z-62 variants differ mostly in internal mechanisms, with minor external changes.
The US M1 Carbine is used by the Tupamaro freedom fighters. The ones in the film appear to be post-WWII models, as can be easily noticed by their bayonet lugs.
More than 7,000 M1 Carbines were acquired by Uruguay from 1942 until 1976, through an agreement with a United States military equipment supply system. In the Uruguayan Armed Forces, the M1 Carbine was used in conjunction with the M1 Garand, as the official service rifle from the 1950s and well into the 1990s, when it was fully phased out by the FMAP FAL. It is currently in reserve, still in use for National Army recruit training, although 6,000 stockpiled M1 Carbines were to be returned to the United States as of 2007.
The M1 Carbine was widely used by left-wing guerrilla movements throughout Latin America.
The Argentine version of the FN FAL, known as the FMAP FAL ("Fábrica Militar de Armas Portátiles" FAL) or FM FAL Standard, made under license by Dirección General de Fabricaciones Militares (DGFM), is used exclusively by Uruguayan soldiers in the film.
The Uruguayan Armed Forces began phasing out the old M1 Garand rifles and M1 Carbines in favor of the FAL, which was adopted in the 1950s and used well into 2008, when it began being phased out by the Steyr AUG A2 and AK-101/102. The Uruguayan military has always used Argentine-made FALs.
