The cinematographic representation of the independence under authoritarian regimes in Latin America: "La primera carga al machete" (1969), "El santo de la espada" (1970) and "Independência ou morte" (1972)

Abstract

This project intends to analyze the representation of Independence in fiction films produced in the late 1960s and early 1970s in Argentina, Brazil and Cuba. During this period a historical cinema focused on the processes of national independence emerged in some Latin American countries ruled by authoritarian regimes that have declared themselves as "revolutions". The main examples of this kind of films were the cinema produced in the three nations mentioned previously. This cinema, made to the general public, has spread an official version of the history according to the nationalist interests promoted by the power. These productions made a monumentalization of the national history that suggested the regime as heir and custodian of national values originated, in their point of view, during the process of Independence. To study this phenomenon, I will analyze the three films with the biggest budget and public success that focused on this process in each one of these countries: El santo de la espada (Leopoldo Torre Nilsson, Argentina, 1970), Independência ou morte (Carlos Coimbra, Brazil, 1972) and La primera carga al machete (Manuel Octavio Gómez, Cuba, 1969). The research will compare the settings that reach the historical cinema in these selected nations and it will establish the relationships between past and present that these three films suggest explicitly or implicitly. Finally, their speech will be compared with the discussions about Independence that have been produced by the official historiographical tradition. (AU)