| ||||||
Alicia en el pais; Archipielago; Araucana; A la sombra del sol; Rapa-Nui
| FEATURE FILMS / LARGOMETRAJES: | ||
|
A LA SOMBRA DEL SOL (In the Shadow of the Sun) Directors: Silvio Caiozzi, Pablo Perelman Writers: Silvio Caiozzi, Pablo Perelman, Waldo Rojas Cinematography: Silvio Caiozzi Music: Thomas Lefever Editing: Carlos Piaggio 1974. 67 minutes. Setting: Caspana, a town in the Atacama Desert, 1940s Language: Spanish Indian Content: high Status: no DVD
|
In the 1940s, two men escape from a prison in Calama, a city near the Atacama Desert of
northern Chile. Heading for Bolivia, they come across the town of Caspana, where
they are welcomed by the community. On their way out of town the fugitives rape two of the
women, a mother and daughter, and slowly resume their journey, thinking there were no
witnesses. But a group of townsmen soon overtake and capture them. The entire town debates
about whether they should hand over the outsiders to the authorities, trusting to the
strange ways of white men, or exert their own Inca justice. A la sombra del sol is
filmed in the realistic, lingering, contemplative style of Caiozzi's other films (Julio
comienza en Julio, etc.) with warm earth colors and a eye for day-to-day details that
reveal the folkways of the people.
Sinopsis en español:
|
![]() |
![]() | |
![]() |
![]() |
|
![]()
|
ALICIA EN EL PAIS Alicia in the Land Director/writer: Esteban Larraín Cinematography: Verónica Quense, Juan Pablo Urioste Music: Ricardo Santander Editing: Felipe Guerrero 2007. 86 minutes. 2.2:1 Setting: San Pedro de Atacama, a desert in northern Chile Language: Spanish Status: not yet on DVD
|
The improbable and admirable story of an Aymara girl (played by Alicia Esquivel) who
at the end of every year undertakes a 112-mile trek from her hometown of Soniquera in
southern Bolivia to San Pedro de Atacama in northern Chile in order to work. Driven by
her family's woeful economic situation, Alicia begins a surreal journey through valleys,
salt flats, and deserts, following the trail that thousands of other Aymaras have made
for centuries.
Sinopsis en español:
|
![]()
|
LA ARAUCANA La conquista de Chile Director: Julio Coll Writers: E. Campos Menéndez, Julio Coll, Alonso de Ercilla, Enrique Llovet Cinematography: Antonio Maccoppi, Mario Pacheco Music: Carlos Savina 1971. 81 minutes. 2.2:1 Setting: Arauco, 1540 Language: Spanish Status: DVD-PAL (European); no subtitles Indian Content: high
|
This film chronicles a battle between the Araucana (Mapuche) Indians of
Chile and
the Spanish Empire, or rather, a ragged band of mercenaries and missionaries.
Like the English film Royal Hunt of the Sun (set in
Peru), this Chile/Spain
coproduction seems like a throwback to old-fashioned Hollywood costume
epics, out of place among the grittiness of seventies films. Also like
Royal Hunt, the Indians are played by Europeans. Nevertheless, the
film has moments of great power. Based on the epic poem by the Spanish
soldier Alonso de Ercilla (1533-1594). The poem, published in three parts
(1569, 1578, and 1989), is considered the first work in European literature
to deal with the New World. It is one of the texts rescued from the fire
in chapter six of Don Quijote.
Sinopsis en español:
|
![]() |
ARCHIPIELAGO
Director/writer: Pablo Perelman Cinematography: Gastón Roca Music: Jaime de Aguirre Editing: Fernando Valenzuela 1992. 85 or 74 minutes. Setting: Santiago and Chiloé (island) Language: Spanish Indian Content: medium Status: not in print |
After the military coup, an architect is forced to accept clandestine assignments. During
a political meeting he suffers a minor head wound, and thereafter begins having strange
dreams and
hallucinations about the Cuncos, indigenous inhabitants of the Chiloé archipelago. He vistis
an anthropologist to learn more about the Cuncos. He is
initially attracted to their free, unrepressed culture and their nudity, but
images of the conquistadors' hostility and betrayals begin to disturb his dreams. A
strange, haunting
film from Pablo Perelman, who also co-directed A la sombra del sol.
Sinopsis en español:
|
![]() |
![]() |
|
![]() |
![]() |
|
![]()
|
CAUTIVERIO FELIZ (Happy Captivity) Director/writer: Cristián Sánchez Cinematography: Pedro Micelli Music: Raúl Aliaga (final song performed by Sofia Painequeo) 1988. 118 minutes. Setting: Chillán, 1629 Language: Mapadungun, Spanish Indian Content: high Status: VHS (no subtitles for the Spanish)
|
Based on the memoirs Cautiverio Feliz, y razón individual de las guerras
dilatadas del reino de Chile, by Francisco Núñez de Pineda y Bascuñán
(1607(?)-1682). During the Battle of Cangrejas in 1629, the Mapuche
defeated the Spanish, killing 100 men. They took Francisco prisoner
because his father was a captain. For seven months Francisco lived with
the Mapuche and became friends with them, learning to appreciate their
way of life. Most of the film focuses on his rather uneventful stay among
them, eating, drinking, making music and dance, and being transfered to
the homes of different caciques. These scenes are mostly in Mapadungun,
the Mapuche language, with occasion lines of Spanish dialogue, as some of
the Indians knew Spanish. There are no subtitles for the Spanish, and the
subtitles for the Mapadungun are in Spanish, flashing on the screen
rapidly at times, so you have to be able to read Spanish quickly to
understand. The film moves somewhat slowly, as we go uneventfully
from meal to meal and bedtime to bedtime. The emphasis is on documenting
the Mapuche way of life rather than telling a good yarn (and judging
from the number of historical and anthropological consultants, the film
must be very authentic). The cinematographer confines himself to
long and medium group shots, rarely using closeups of individuals. This
may be intended to reflect the communal values of the Mapuche, but it does
make the film a little monotonous (there was apparently a 160-minute
version; this review is for the 118-minute version). What the viewer
comes away with,
however, is an appreciation of the warm Chilean hospitality still known
today (and praised in Che Guevara's Motorcycle Diaries, for example).
Francisco wrote his memoirs from 1656 to 1673, during a time when he was
embittered with Spanish policy and considered the Mapuche way of life
superior. The memoirs were not published until 1863, the year after his
death.
Sinopsis en español:
|
![]()
|
ERDBEBEN IN CHILI
(Earthquake in Chile) (Terremoto in Chile) Director/writer: Helma Sanders 1975. 86 minutes. Setting: Santiago, 1647 Language: German Indian Content: low Status: DVD
|
Jeronimo is a teacher (introduced as a Spaniard in the beginning of the film) who is hired
to tutor the wealthy heiress Josephe. Jeronimo confesses his love for his pupil, and the jealous
father becomes angry and puts Josephe in a convent. When it is discovered that Josephe is
pregnant, the church condemns her to death and Jeronimo is put in prison. A Mapuche woman
sits outside the prison and mocks Jeronimo for becoming a teacher and falling in love with
a white woman, and thus we become aware of Jeronimo's Mapuche lineage, compelling our
obligatory review of this dreadful film. Along comes an earthquake to rescue Josephe
from the guillotine and free Jeronimo from prison. Some townspeople think the earthquake was God's way
of exonerating the lovers, while others think the disaster was the work of Mapuche witches.
They stone the Indians and lynch the fugitive couple during a church service. The end.
Based on an 1807 novel by Heinrich von Kleist.
|
![]() |
PLAY
Director/writer: Alicia Scherson Cinematography: Ricardo DeAngelis Music: Joseph Costa, Marc Hellner Editing: Soledad Salfate 2005. 105 minutes. Setting: Santiago Language: Spanish; a few lines of Mapudungun Indian content: low Status: released in Europe (region 2) |
Cristina has left her family in the south to live in Santiago, caring for a wealthy elderly man
with an interest in indigenous peoples. She only occasionally talks to her mother on the phone
(in Mapudungun), and spends the rest of her free time wandering the city and sometimes following
people. This is an interesting, unusual film about how lonely lives intersect in the big city. But
since Cristina has contentedly abandoned her past, very little Indian culture is shown.
|
![]() |
RAPA-NUI Director: Kevin Reynolds Writer: Time Rose Price Cinematography: Stephen Windom Editor: Peter Boyle Music: Stewart Copeland 1994. 107 minutes. Aspect ratio: 2.35:1. Rated R. Setting: Easter Island, pre-colonial times Language: English Indian Content: high; all Indian Status: VHS; Korean DVD
|
This U.S.-made film produced by Kevin Costner is an entertaining action movie about one
of the most remote islands in the world, years before European colonization. The population
is divided into the ruling class, or Longears, and the worker class, or Shortears, who
have to build the giant stone Moai to honor the gods. The story revolves around a deadly
ceremonial race over the island's craggy cliffs and dangerous waters. Whoever wins the
race becomes the Birdman, or ruler of the island. This is an entertaining action-plus-romance
film which also manages to explore some rather hefty themes: the inherent injustice of a
stratified society, the folly of theocracy, and environmental devastation. The Korean DVD
is in fullscreen (4:3) format, cutting off the sides of this cinemascope film. See
comparison below.
Sinopsis en español:
|
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
TIERRA DEL FUEGO Director: Miguel Littín Writers: Tonino Guerra, Miguel Littin, Luis Sepúlveda Cinematagraphy: Giuseppe Lanci Music: Milladoiro, Ángel Parra 2000. 100 minutes. 2.35:1 Setting: Tierra del Fuego, 1880s-1890s Languages: Spanish; some Selk'nam and Italian Indian Content: medium Status: DVD (no subtitles) |
Based on Francisco Coloane's 1956 short story collection and the diaries of Julius Popper, this film tells the story of the Romanian Julius Popper (played by Jorge Perugorría), an arrogant adventurer who led an expedition into Tierra del Fuego in search of gold and sought to exterminate the Ona natives living there. The Ona (also known as Selk'nam) were a nomadic people who relied on minimal or no shelter aside from their furs. Popper's ragtag crew of mercenaries defeat them fairly quickly, except for one surviving girl taken prisoner by an old man. Sad story, fine cinematagraphy and music. The Argentine DVD has no subtitles and presents Littin's widescreen epic in puny fullscreen. Let's hope for a better re-issue with subtitles. |
| SHORT FILMS / CORTOMETRAJES: | ||
![]()
|
CHE UÑÜM (Gente pájaro / Bird People) Director/writer/cinematographer: Francisco Huichaqueo Music: Mario Z, Graciela Ñanculeo 2008. 22 minutes. Setting: Chile, the present Language: Mapadungun, Spanish Indian Content: high
|
This experimental short film is a visual exploration of the filmmaker's Mapuche roots.
The first part can be seen on Youtube: youtube.com/user/red88iniciativa#p/u/10/zriHGlOOLzs
Sinopsis en español:
|
![]() |
WICHAN: EL JUICIO (Wichan: The Trial) Director: Maga Meneses Writers: Maga Meneses, Fabiola Severín Cinematography: Pedro Valenzuela Music: Alejandro Lazo Translation: José Calfuqueo, Anselmo Peiñan 1995. 24 minutes. Black & white. Setting: Isla Huapi en Lago Budi Language: Mapudungun; some Spanish Indian Content: high Status: not in print |
A short story about two groups of Mapuches who settle a dispute over a stolen cow. A
lonko (elected chief of a group of families) travels to the village of another lonco to
tell him that one of his men has stolen a cow from his village. They agree to meet the
next day to settle the matter. The next day food is shared by the families as the men
discuss the robbery. Lonko Aillapan identifies the thief, and Lonko Coña agrees that the
thief must repay with two cows in one month's time. Later, in private, the young thief
offers Lonko Aillapan a gold necklace to reveal the witness' name. The thief then confronts
the witness, another young man who in fact helped him steal the cow and ate the meat with
him. The two thieves in turn then settle their own wichan. The entire story, spoken
in Mapudungun, is told within the framing device, spoken in Spanish, of a farmer telling
his daughter how the Mapuche had a way of settling every disagreement in the old days.
The story is based on the memoirs of Pascual Coña, Testimonio de un Cacique Mapuche,
dictated in Mapudungun to a German priest in 1927. As in other films on the Mapuche, there
is an emphasis on customs of hospitality and cordiality. The brevity of this film makes it
a little unsatisfying. One wishes that they had made
a full-length feature based on the entire source material.
Sinopsis en español: |
![]()
|
||
Nobleza araucana
Perimontun
Quinquen, tierra de refugio
Rapa Nui
(Roberto Idiaquez de la Fuente, 1925)
Silent film. La cinta trata del despojo de tierras a los mapuches. El blanco está
simbolizado en un individuo sin escrúpulos que se salva de la cárcel gracias al cacique
Panguilef, quien para no perturbar la paz de la hermana del “huinca” le perdona los
atropellos y ultrajes.
(Jeannette Paillán, 2008, 6 min.)
María es una joven de origen indígena, a quien de acuerdo a la tradición mapuche le
corresponde cuidar a su madre en la vejez. Creencia que siente vulnerada y frustrada por
las leyes de la naturaleza, que disponen un destino distinto para su hija; ser chamán,
guía espiritual de su comunidad. Destino que intentará evitar alejándola de sus tradiciones
y escondiéndole el designio que la serpiente le anunció en su embarazo.
(Margarita Campos, 1998, 25 min.)
Muestra diversos aspectos de la vida de una comunidad pehuenche de Quinquén a través del
relato de un niño mapuche.
(Mario Bonnard, 1928)
Silent film.
The Indigenous Cultures of Chile include:
Si tienes preguntas, comentarios, o sugerencias, escríbeme a:
slipcat555@yahoo.com