Camila (1984)

The movie takes place in 1847 Buenos Aires during the dictatorship of Juan Manuel de Rosas. It focuses on the young and wealthy, Camila O'Gorman, who eventually falls in love with the Jesuit priest, Father Ladislao Gutierrez. The two begin a forbidden love affair. They run off together to another town but are soon discovered by a mutual acquaintance. They are given till the next morning before they are arrested in order to allow them to escape.  However they choose not to run and are put in prison. Her family begs him to show mercy but Camila's father writes and asks the governor to give his daughter the death penalty. At the end, even though Camila has discovered that she is pregnant, both of the lovers are shot by a firing squad.

Camila provides much insight into Latin American culture during the 19th century.  Life in nineteenth-century Argentina is accurately depicted in this film.  We see the oppression of women. The women in the film wear veils to cover their faces and spent much of their time at home or at church. The film also shows them wearing Victorian style clothing, which was common during this era. The wealthy wore clothing imported from Europe. We see the influence of the dictator Juan Manuel de Rosas. The Argentinians are shown with bits of the color red on their clothing in obedience to Rosas. We also see other elements of Latin American culture, such as siesta.

There are several important themes seen in the film.  For one, we see throughout the film a general condemnation of dictatorship, specifically the dictatorship of Rosas. The relationship between Camila and her father mirror the regime of Juan Manuel de Rosas.  And Camila speaks out against both of them.  Camila's father is a harsh and violent man who demands total obedience from his family.  An example of his cruelty is at the beginning of the film, Adolfo O'Gorman catches Camila playing with a litter of newborn kittens.  He then has these kittens put in a bag and drowned.  He also locks his own mother up out of disapprove and does not allow her any visitors, not even her own grandchildren.  He rules through a climate of fear, much like Rosas. Evidence in the movie of the iron fist that Juan Manuel de Rosas is the incident with the books. Camila is shown borrowing books from a man in the town. Later in the film, Camila is walking down the street and sees that he has been murdered and his head displayed on a pole. This was done by the regime as a result of the censorship, including book control, imposed by Rosas.

Another main theme that we see is an argument for a strong role for women. Camila is the strong female character that breaks the traditional gender roles of this time period.  In 19th century Argentina, women were restricted and were not looked upon equally as men.  Women were though to have two options in life: either marry or become a nun.  Adolfo O'Gorman at one point in the film even remarks that, "A single woman is chaos. Marriage is order."  Women were expected to be quiet.  They were expected to be modest.  In the film, we see the women covering their heads with shawls and bathing with a slip covering their bodies. They spent much time at church. And they were expected to obey these social norms. Camila is the exact opposite of these norms. She is a rebel. She knows who she is and what she wants.  She doesn't let societal rules dictate who she can love. While the other women accept everything blindly, Camila questions things. This includes questioning her father and the dictator. An example of this happens at the dinner table when Camila makes a remark about how it was wrong for the bookkeeper to be killed and she is immediately reprimanded by her father.
 
Overall, I would consider this a very successful film. It makes a strong case against oppression and presents this argument in an intense way. It helps to show people what life was really like during this time. I think it is some way a celebration of the people like Camila who would not back down and were willing to stand for what they believed in, whether this be love or political freedoms.

The Three Caballeros (1944)

The Three Caballeros is a Disney production that was made in 1944. This cartoon features three personified birds from three varying locations across the Americas. The film explores the western hemisphere and what it has to offer. At first glance, the film seems like a nonsensical and confusing cartoon, but when studied closer, this film reveals a lot about the relationship between the United States and Latin America during the mid 20th century.

The film is divided into seven different segments. The first couple of segments are educational reels that help teach about the different, if somewhat stereotypical, aspects of Latin American culture.  The first segment is entitled "The Cold-Blooded Penguin." This story follows Pablo the Penguin and his trip from the Antarctic to the tropical, warm Galapagos Islands. The second part is called "The Flying Gauchito."  This tells the story of a little Uruguayan cowboy and his winged donkey named Burrito. The next segment, "Baia," includes a long song and dance routine that takes place in Brazil.  It is here that we see the mood change. The film changes from education to promotional.  Luring Americans, namely men, to this land of beautiful women. Aurora Miranda sings a long song while Donald falls in love.  At the end of this scene, he receives a kiss from the singer. After this comes "Las Posadas," switching the theme back to educational. This part of the film explains the tradition where Mexican children reenact the journey of Mary and Joseph during Christmastime. Here we also get an explanation of pinadas.

The final segments place even greater emphasis on the beautiful women that can be found in South America. The movie becomes surprisingly sexual for a children's cartoon, almost inappropriate at times. These segments include "Mexico: Patzcuaro, Veracruz, Acapulco," "You Belong to My Heart," and "Donald's Surreal Reverie."  The Mexico segment is a long segment that has Donald and Jose touring Mexico on a flying sarape. They stop to see some traditional Mexican dances.  They next visit a beach full of pretty ladies wearing two-piece swimsuits. Donald is smitten and tries chasing the women down in order to kiss them but fails every time.  In "You Belong to My Heart" features singer Dora Luz performing the title song and Donald falls in love with her as well. The final segment is a long scene full of wackiness and, of course, women. The entire ending is a crazy mesh of special effects.  It includes dancing women; random Latin American elements, such as cacti and flags; and fireworks and explosions

I believe this film is setting out to serve a couple of different purposes. The first purpose is showcasing Disney's animating abilities and advancements. The first purpose serves to explain all of the bright colors and the dizzying, random cartoon sequences that don't really seem to fit. The combination of animation and live-action was quite the feat at this time and Disney packed "The Three Caballeros" full of it. The second message they are trying to convey is an underlying message of neocolonialism. During the beginning of the 20th century, the U.S. held a sort of neocolonial power of Latin America through capitalist investments. I think this film helped to reinforce these ideas.

I would say the promotion of education and travel can also be seen in the film. The film was very informative at times and presented an array of interesting and accurate facts in way that would easily catch the attention of children. It encouraged tourism to South America by enticing people with scenes of tropical beaches, beautiful women, and unique cultures.

The film also supports the idea of "machismo."  Merriam-Webster Dictionary describes "machismo" as an attitude, quality, or way of behaving that agrees with traditional ideas about men being very strong and aggressive. The idea of "machismo" is often associated with Latin American culture.  Interestingly enough, the two Latino characters, Panchito and Jose Carioca, are not the ones displaying this attitude. It is Donald Duck, the American bird.

This cartoon is a highly romanticized and exotic depiction of life south of the United States. I wouldn't necessarily consider this film to be very successful. I guess this could be considered a successful film in the terms that the creators accomplished getting their message of neocolonialism across. However, I personally found this cartoon too strange for my taste. At first glance, you don't even realize the deeper messages. It just comes across as a random, sometimes creepy children's cartoon.

1492: Conquest of Paradise (1992)

1492: Conquest of Paradise is a film that was created in celebration of the 500 year anniversary of Columbus' discovery if the Americas.  The plot involves the journey Christopher Columbus makes on his quest to find the New World and the impacts this eventually had on the indigenous people of the Americas.

The story begins with Christopher Columbus in Spain seeking funding for a westward trip to Asia.  He faces much opposition until he sparks the interest of the queen and she grants him his journey.  In return, he promises to bring back riches and gold.  He then sets out with three ships and a crew on a longer than Columbus claimed journey. When they finally reach land, they meet the natives and befriend them. Columbus befriends one native in particular and he learns to speak Spanish. Columbus return to Spain to spread the word of his accomplishments. He makes a second trip back, this time bringing some additional Spaniards, including one named Moxica. When he returns to the island, they begin the construction of a Christian City, La Isabela.  Meanwhile, we see the true character of Moxica. He is revealed as a greedy villain who has evil intentions for the indigenous people. After he cuts off the hand of a native, the natives flee into the woods. Fighting between the two groups eventually breaks out. Moxica ends up killing himself, rather than be killed by a native. Columbus is ordered to return to Spain where he is put into prison, though he is soon let out. Queen Isabella gives permission to Columbus to make one last voyage to the New World.

This film contains several faults.  For one, it is heavily reliant on White Legend. White Legend is the argument of history that praises the introduction of Christianity, democracy, and capitalism to the New World as a result of their colonization by the Spaniards. White Legend focuses on all of the good aspects of Conquest, while ignoring the deaths of the natives and the destruction of their traditional ways of life. Columbus here is pretty much the epitome of White Legend.  He is portrayed as a man who holds a paternalistic view of the natives he encountered. In the film he tries to defend the indigenous groups and is angered at their mistreatment. However, in reality, Columbus was not this kind to the Indians. According to Sonya Lipsett-Rivera and Sergio Rivera Ayala's chapter "Columbus Takes on the Forces of Darkness, or Film and Historical Myth in 1492: The Conquest of Paradise" in Based on a True Story Latin American History at the Movies Columbus supported the beheading of indigenous for minor crimes, such as stealing clothes. Rather than being concerned with the safety of the natives as portrayed in the film, Columbus was more concerned whether or not they would make good slaves to help produce more wealth. He even had native slaves of his own.

The movie portrays elements of the Black Legend as well. Black Legend is the view of history that demonizes the Spanish in regard to the conquest of the Americas. It focuses on the negative aspects such as the death of natives due to disease and violence, forced conversion to Christianity, and the destruction of traditional indigenous ways of life. The creation of the character, Moxica serves as a representation of the culmination of all of the evil motives of the Spaniards.  He is the direct counterpart to Columbus, who is the embodiment of all that is noble about the conquest. Moxica portrayed as a cruel and unfeeling Spaniard who cuts off natives hands who are not able to collect enough gold for him.

It also helps to support the Myth of Exceptional Men. According to Matthew Restall in Seven Myths of the Spanish Conquest, the Myth of Exceptional Men is the idea that the success of the exploration and conquest of the New World was a result of a handful of adventurers who used innovative strategies. While actually, these strategies and tactics were routine procedure during this time period, used by both Europeans and the indigenous rulers of the New World. Columbus is portrayed as outsider, someone who doesn't fit in with the rest of society with his grand and unique ideals. In reality, there were many men with similar goals who were all competing to find this New World.

Therefore, 1492: Conquest of Paradise is not an especially good historical film, due to its inaccuracies and biases. The film depicts Columbus in an overly-sympathetic light. They make him out to be some sort of martyr who is motivated by a passion to explore rather than the wealth. But I would still say that it is a successful film.  I think the filmmakers accomplished what they set out to do- celebrate the famous voyage of Christopher Columbus.

The Other Conquest (1998)

The Other Conquest is a film that takes place in Tenochtitlan, following the defeat of the Mexica by Hernando Cortes.  The story centers on the priest, Fray Diego de la Coruna, and the native Topiltzin.  In the film, Fray Diego takes a special interest in the conversion of a certain indigenous scribe, whom he renames as Tomas.  Fray Diego makes Tomas' conversion his own personal mission in life. We see much resistance from Tomas, who is determined to keep his traditional ways alive.

The film begins after a massacre of the great temple.  An indigenous man rises from the dead bodies and sees his mother has been slain.  We are next taken to an underground cave during a human sacrifice performed by Topiltzin's grandmother.  The natives are discovered by the Spanish.  Several are killed, but Topiltzin is captured and sent to Cortes.  Cortes is set to give Topiltzin the death penalty but his mistress Tequichpo pleads for the life of her fellow native, claiming that they are siblings, sharing Moctezuma  as a father.  He is eventually sent to a monastery in the charge of Fray Diego with Tequichpo as a teacher to show Topiltzin the way of the Europeans.  However, Fray Diego discovers Topiltzin and Tequichpo trying to reproduce and Tequichpo is put in prison.  She does become pregnant with Topiltzin's son but hangs herself while in prison.  Topiltzin becomes very ill and begins to hallucinate strange visions of the Virgin Mary and the Mother Goddess.  The Virgin Mary statue arrives at the monastery and Topiltzin becomes increasingly drawn to it.  However, he is denied contact with the statue, as it is locked in the sacristy.  As Topiltzin's condition becomes worse, Fray Diego purposely leaves the door to the sacristy open one night.  Topiltzin escapes his locked room, carries the Virgin Mary up to his window, and commits suicide by falling from his window while holding the statue in his arms.

The Other Conquest is a film that is unlike other films set in this time period.  While most others tend to emphasize either black legend or white legend, this film does neither. It takes on a different perspective.  Neither side is particularly glorified in the film.  The Other Conquest shows the brutality and intolerance with which the Spaniards treated the natives. However, the film keeps from becoming too Black Legend by incorporating the role of the sympathetic Fray Diego. It also avoids depicting the natives as innocent or willingly submissive.  It stays fairly neutral trying to convey the idea of a mutual conquest or reverse conquest rather than a total annihilation of the indigenous populations.  By the end of the film, there is clear evidence that Fray Diego has, at least to some degree, been influenced by Tomas. Tomas' influence on Fray Diego made such a lasting impression that it is Tomas' name that Fray Diego remembers on his death bed.

This movie also goes to disprove the Myth of Native Desolation. The Myth of Native Desolation claims that all the indigenous peoples of the Americas were easily converted and quickly considered themselves a part of the New European Order. This myth also has one to believe that the natives abandoned all their prior beliefs and practices and, therefore, ceased to exist as an ethnicity. The Other Conquest shows that there was much more resistance from the natives. In the film, we see the remnants of the indigenous population secretly gathering in underground caves in order to practice their traditional religious ceremonies without being persecuted.  We also see that Topiltzin is never able to fully accept Christianity. Rather he is able to see the commonalities between his religion and the Spaniards' religion.

It think that that is another theme of the movie: to show that the religious conquest was really unnecessary because both of the religions were too similar.  Both religions place an emphasis on a mother figure.  In Catholicism it is the Virgin Mary; in the Mexica religion it is the Mother Goddess.  Tomas, therefore, takes an immediate interest in the Virgin Mary.  Tomas is able to see these similarities of his religion and Fray Diego's religion.  At one point in the film, a Catholic mentions to Tomas how brutal his old religion is for sacrificing humans to appease their gods.  To this, Tomas retorts that, "you eat yours," referring to the Catholic belief of transubstantiation during communion, showing that both religions can seem strange to those who don't understand them.

The Other Conquest is a good historical film.  I depicts a much more realistic view of what probably occurred between the two very different groups during the period of conquest.  In The Other Conquest, we see not only the European  influence the Spaniards forced on natives, but also that the natives were able to influence some of the Spaniards as well.