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Historical Films Films with a Contemporary Setting El Sendero Luminoso / Shining Path Grupo Chaski Trilogy Monster Movies Not Yet Reviewed Short Films Linguistic Map of Peru |
= Lame, Crummy.
= OK, Watchable.
= Good.
= Very Good.
= Great, Classic.
| HISTORICAL FILMS: 16th CENTURY | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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THE ROYAL HUNT OF THE SUN
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Based on a play by Peter Shaffer. English actors play Spaniard and Inca alike in this stiff, verbose
drama, which isn't nearly as cool as the cover suggests. We begin with a
long debate between Francisco Pizarro and King Carlos about
whether Spain should fund another expedition to the New World. In this long first scene the
film still feels like a play. When we finally get to Peru, Christopher Plummer brings a
welcome eccentricity to the role of the Inka Atawalpa, whose empire is pulled out from under his feet.
The film's viewpoint is entirely European, with little sympathy for the conquered.
This Cinemascope production seems like a last gasp
from the old-school historical epics before a grittier style took over.
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AGUIRRE, DER ZORN GOTTES (Aguirre, the Wrath of God)
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The Quechua Indians play minor roles, and the Amazon-dwelling Yagua Indians appear even more briefly, but they loom large over the
fate of the hubristic conquistadors in this masterpiece by German
director Werner Herzog.
After seeking his fortune in the Peruvian highlands, the renegade soldier Lope de Aguirre (c. 1510-1561) joins
an expedition down the Amazon with 300 Spanish soldiers and several hundred Quechua prisoners to find El Dorado, the City of Gold. Aguirre mutinies against
the leader Pedro de Ursúa and his successor, Fernando de Guzmán, eventually claiming himself Prince of Peru and the Wrath of God. German
actor Klaus Kinski is brilliant as the mad, limping conquistador driving his companions to doom on the unknown Amazon and makes this
historical drama feel more like a horror film. The migration of Spain's worst criminals to the New World would shape the history of
Latin America for centuries to come.
Sinopsis en español: 
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EL DORADO
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It's surprising that anyone attempted to bring this story to the screen again after Herzog's critically acclaimed Aguirre.
Spanish director Saura has not added a bold new vision to the myth, or even a new twist. He simply made a longer movie.
It moves slowly, and it takes a while for Lope de Aguirre to emerge as an interesting character, but the cinematography, period
details and acting are all excellent. If you watch El Dorado without having seeing Herzog's Aguirre, it's
a great movie. It just doesn't quite have that extra trace of genius that makes the earlier film so riveting.
Sinopsis en español: |
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| 17th CENTURY | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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EL BIEN ESQUIVO (The Elusive Good)
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Jerónimo de Ávila, a mestizo soldier in the Spanish army, returns to his native Peru to find legal
proof that he is the legitimate son of a Spanish captain. He seeks out the small town
where his Quechua mother, whom he has not seen in years, is now dying. Meanwhile, the
Jesuit priests are carrying out a purge of all traces of the indigenous religion, seeking
the sacred objects (huacas or wakas in Quechua) hidden in homes and churches. A parallel
plotline tells the story of Sor Ines, a novitiate nun who secretly writes secular poetry.
When Jeronimo flees from police after killing a man in a tavern brawl, he ducks into the
convent and hides in Ines' cell. The two stories are connected thematically,
both exploring the conflict between church suppression and the individual's need to be
true to oneself. With excellent cinematography and a meticulously recreated 17th century
Peru, El bien esquivo is one of the nation's most ambitious big-budget productions.
Unfortunately the film doesn't show a great deal of indigenous culture. Jeronimo is an
unlikeable rogue, his reunion with his mother on her deathbed lacks tenderness, and since
he has rejected his Quechua past, the film doesn't dwell on it much either.
Official site: http://argos.com.pe/elbienesquivo/principal.htm
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| 18th CENTURY | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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TÚPAC AMARU
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A retelling of the Inca uprising led by Túpac Amaru II.Born José Gabriel Condorcanqui in 1742, he was a mestizo and received a Jesuit
education. The Spanish government recognized him as the cacique of Tungasuca and Pampamarca in the Cusco region. In this capacity he
tried to persuade the Spanish authorities to improve the living conditions of the Indians and end the practice of
mita, the Inca tradition of community service which under colonial rule had degenerated into sefdom. Thousands of Indians were sent
against their will to work in mines of Potosi (in Alto Peru, now Bolivia) where most of them died of mercury poisoning. When peaceful negotiations
failed, Condorcanqui rejected Spanish authority, adopted the name of his great-great-grandfather Túpac Amaru (1545-1572), the last Inca. He amassed an
army of 6000 Indians and led them into battle against the Spanish in 1780. Despite some early victories, the rebellion was defeated within a
year. The entire story is told in flashbacks during a courtroom drama, and the film ends with the cruel execution of Túpac Amaru in the plaza of
Cusco where the first Túpac Amaru was also executed. Despite the tragic ending the film is actually quite inspiring. The final, defiant voiceover
is from Alejandro Romualdo's poem "Canto Coral a Túpac Amaru" and predicts an eventual victory for the Indians. In 1975, the plaza which had come
to be known as Waqaypata, The Place of Tears, bore witness to the creation of the Organización Agraria Revolucionaria Túpac Amaru, and the film
closes with that victory. Thus the film is in effect a prequel for Federico Garcia's first film, Kuntur Wachana (see below under
Contemporary Setting). Like many of Garcia's other films, Túpac Amaru is loaded with historical references to people, places, laws, customs, etc.
that are likely to confuse non-Peruvian audiences. Reading up on the history before watching his films is recommended for full appreciation.
Sinopsis en español:
Canto Coral a Túpac Amaru
Lo harán volar con dinamita. |
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| EARLY 20th CENTURY: Fiebre de caucho | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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FITZCARRALDO
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Werner Herzog's thematic sequel to his earlier Amazon film, Aguirre (see above). This time Klaus Kinski plays a gentler madman,
an English entrepreneur named Brian Sweeney Fitzgerald, loosely based on the rubber baron Carlos Fermín Fitzcarrald (1862-1897).
The historical Fitzcarrald enslaved Indians and killed any who refused to work for him, but Herzog's Fitzcarraldo
dreams of building an opera house in the Amazon. In order to
finance his grandiose, Gatsby-esque dream, Fitzcarraldo tries to make his
rubber business more profitable by moving it upriver to a more remote and abundant source of rubber trees.
When a bend in river turns out to be unnavigable, he decides to bypass the bend by hauling
his ship over a steep hill. Fitzcarraldo enlists the aid of dozens of Asháninka Indians to lift the ship uphill
with a complex system of pulleys. But the Englishman doesn't realize that the Asháninka have
their own motive for helping him. Fitzcarraldo is surprisingly
similar to Herzog's previous Kinski-in-the-Amazon film, Aguirre and some critics found it too imitative of the earlier work,
(same actor, same river, same country, etc.) But it is a magnificent film in its own right. The Asháninka
don't appear until an hour into the film, but it's worth the wait. Also recommended:
Burden of Dreams, a feature-length documentary on the making of
Fitzcarraldo, available on DVD.
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EL SOCIO DE DIOS (God's Partner)
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While Fitzcarraldo takes an extremely benevolent view of the rubber boom, El socio de Dios exposes the atrocies of
this holocaust in the Amazon. Julio Cesar Arana (1864-1952) is a hat seller in Iquitos but sees an opportunity for riches in the sudden world-wide
demand for rubber.
He quickly dominates the market, buying up land in the Putumayo region of the Amazon and forcing Huitoto Indians (here played by Chama and Bora
Indians) to harvest the rubber. His right-hand man, Loayza, tortures the Huitotos with whipping, burning, rape, and murder. A cadre of activists,
including the British investigator Roger Casement, works to expose their crimes, reporting the death of 30,000 men, women and children.
Finally, the Huitotos rebel, bringing some welcome suspense to the story. Although many explanatory captions are provided, the film remains
somewhat chaotic and confusing, hopping from one
scene to another. In 2012 Federico Hurtado published a novel version of El socio de Dios.
Sinopsis en español: 
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JARAWI
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A young landowner in Cusco is in a relationship with one of the girls who works on his
farm, but then he falls in love with a visitor from Lima. The farm girl seeks to regain
his love with the help of Mariano, a harpist who has moved to Chinchero in search of a
better life. When Mariano becomes the victim of a sacrifice, the farmers rebel
against the landowner. Loosely based on the story "Diamantes y pedernales" by Jose Maria
Arguedas. "Jarawi" in Quechua is a sad love song. The film was criticized for its technical problems, out-of-sync dialogue, and
inexpressive acting on the part of Cesar Zarate (Mariano) and Teodoro Nunez Rebaza (the
landowner). Unfortunately no copies of this film survive. The negatives were destroyed in
a fire in Buenos Aires.
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LOS PERROS HAMBRIENTOS (Hungry Dogs)
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Based on the classic 1937 novel by Ciro Alegría (1909-1967), this film
follows the lives of several families--Indian, cholo, and white--in an unnamed
hamlet in the altiplano. We meet the weathly landowner Don Cipriano, his mayordomo
Don Romulo,
and various families who work the land through times of plenty and times of drought.
We also meet the bandit brothers Blas and Julian Celedón, who steal from their
neighbors and are finally ambushed and killed by a sherrif from the city.
The army forcibly conscripts Mateo, whose wife and 9-year-old son are left to fend
for themselves. And then there is the central family of Simón Robles, a famed
storyteller and sheepdog breeder. They each have their
own story, and it can be confusing to keep track of them all if you haven't read the
book (which has never been published in English). The film has a documentary-like style,
with an anthropologist's attention to
detail, showing the family working the fields, cooking and eating on the
ground, scrubbing their home-made dishes with corn cobs,
feeding their sheep and dogs, singing their folksongs, telling stories,
or just wandering the countryside. Like the novel, the film begins with a
slice-of-life feel to be savored for its images and humor, but slowly turns into a
excruciating account of a drought told in gruesome detail.
Luis Figueroa also directed Kukuli and Yawar Fiesta. Check out
his blog at luifigueroa.blogspot.com
CAST:
Sinopsis en español:
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YAWAR FIESTA (Fiesta de sangre) (Blood Festival)
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Puquio, a town in Ayacucho (halfway between Lima and Cusco), has a tradition of holding
bullfights each year on July 28, the
Peruvian Independence Day. This year the K'ayau, one of four indigenous communities in the
town, decide to capture Misitu, a legendary wild bull that roams Don Julian's land.
They get permission from Don Julian, but find resistance from other quarters: the whites
in town want to forbid the barbaric custom, and the goverment declares they must hire a
professional bullfighter from Lima. The Lucanas Union, an Indigenist advocacy group inspired
by Mariategui and comprised of assimilated urban mestizos, praises the government for
preventing the Indians from being
injured in the bullfight, not realizing that the K'ayau themselves want to participate,
welcoming the opportunity to prove their manhood, which is normally suppressed
under their landowner bosses. Complicating matters further, another Indian community in Puquio,
the K'oñanis, regard Misitu as an auki, a mountain spirit, and consider it
sacriligious to
capture the sacred bull for the festival. Don Julian, a brutal landowner notorious for abusing
his Indians, favors the manly sport, ironically putting himself on the side of the Indians,
though he is locked up for his aggressive quarrels with the mayor. Finally the professional
bullfight arrives and the mayor orders his troops to shoot any Indian who attempts to
participate in the bullfight. But when the crucial moment comes, the excitement of the
bloody festival and the shocking image of a condor tied to the back of the bull leaves
the troops awestruck as the Indians enter the fray.
Yawar Fiesta is based on the 1941 novel by José María Arguedas (1911-1969). An anthropologist, novelist, and poet, Arguedas was brought up bilingually, learning Quechua from the servants in his house. He wrote poetry in Quechua, but for his novels he developed a hybrid of Spanish words and Quechua syntax which allowed him to express an indigenous view of the world. Luis Figueroa's film translates this vision to the screen through a naturalistic style, with the strident sound of Wakawakra horns (bullhorns played before the bullfight), charangos, and the mysterious danzak, or scissor dancer. Much of the story is told through arguments over the bullfight in the town hall and in the saloon, and the subtleties of social class that spur the conflict may not be apparent to all viewers, especially if you haven't read the book. Arguedas' intention was to explore these class differences and portray the full panorama of the contradictory society he was born in.
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ALTIPLANO
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War photographer Grace, devastated by a violent incident in Iraq, renounces her profession.
Her Belgian husband, Max, is a cataract surgeon working at an eye clinic in the Peruvian
altiplano. Nearby, the villagers of Turubamba succumb to illnesses caused by a mercury
spill from industrial mining. Saturnina (played by Magaly Solier), a young woman in Turubamba, loses
her fiancé to the contamination. The villagers turn their rage on the foreign doctors, and
in the ensuing riot Max is killed. Saturnina takes drastic measures to protest against the
violations towards her people and their land. When Grace travels to Turubamba to see the place
where her husband was killed, she comes across the Indians protesting against the miners,
and the two widows meet. A strange bond is forged between these two women from different
continents. Altiplano is a lyrical, provocative film full of beauty, wonder and
symbolism, boldly
fusing art and politics to raise our awareness of how all our actions are linked in this
seemingly divided world. A masterpiece. Co-director Peter Brosens has made documentaries
on Andean communities in Peru and Ecuador and has studied the phenomenon of protest
suicide.
Official site: www.altiplano.info
Sinopsis en español:
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ANTUCA
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Antuca (played by Graciela Huaywa Collanqui) is a maid in Lima who has joined a support group of
fellow maids. Antuca and a companera take a bus trip to revisit her home, a village in the hills outside
Cajamarca, and through a series of flashbacks we learn of Antuca's life: when she was little her widowed
mother sent her away to help her godmother, who placed her as a housemaid in Lima. She was not allowed
to go to school and received no salary. When her employer's son tried to rape her, she escaped and found a
series of other humiliating jobs. Finally, Antuca found a sympathetic employer who helped her with her education.
Returning to her village ten years later, she rediscovers her traditional culture. We see see parades, dancing,
ceremonial dress, weaving, shepherding, and making music. But this traditional life also demands work,
lots of it. She reunites with an old flame, Artemio, but in the end in the end Antuca returns with her friend
to Lima, where her women's group is building a cooperative community in the sand with woven straw houses that
look like a shanty town--a highly ambiguous ending.
Antuca was originally conceived as a documentary showing the harsh working conditions of maids. Women from the group Trabajadoras del Hogar participated in the film as actors and writers. It was never released theatrically but was used for educational purposes. It's no blockbuster, but the film effectively juxtaposes alluring scenes of Andean folkways with the call for progressive action, and a profoundly sad suggestion that you can never really go home again. There is also some great music, ranging from stridently authentic Quechua songs to catchy Andean folk-rock, and some nice scenery--look for a glimpse of the famous ventanillas, ancient niches carved in the mountainside by a forgotten Cajamarca people. Director Maria Barea was one of the founders of Grupo Chaski and the producer of Perros Hambrientos and Yawar Fiesta. She makes a cameo as one of Antuca's bosses. More info on Maria Barea can be found at www.wmm.com/filmcatalog/makers/fm456.shtml
Sinopsis en español:
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CASARASIRI: La lucha por la verdadera amor (The fight for true love)
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Felipe and Flor are in love, but Genaro plans to take advantage of Flor's innocence. When
she refuses Genaro, he creates a plot with Flor's sister and two of his delinquent friends
to take her to a far, inaccessible place and make the parents believe she has run away.
Felipe goes off in search of Flor. Official website: casarasiri.blogspot.com
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EL CASO HUAYANAY Testimonio de parte
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Based on actual events that occurred in the early 1970s.
Matias Escobar (Hugo Alvarez) is a mestizo overseer at the Hacienda Huayanay steals sheep and other animals from the campesinos. The campesinos go to
Huancavelica to complain about him. The lieutentant governor, a quechuahablante, is sympathetic towards the campesinos and orders
Escobar thrown in jail. However, the hacendado arranges to remove the lieutentant-governor from office and replace him with one of his cronies.
Escobar is released from jail and vows revenge against Eustaquio, the community leader who testified against him. Returning to Huayanay,
Escobar rapes a young shepherd and kills Escobar. The rest of the community votes to take justice into their own hands, invoking ancient Inca custom.
They lynch Escobar and present his body to the guardia civil, claiming collective responsibility. The white authorities charge 216 campesinos for the
murder of Escobar, but only 11 are aprehended, and the ensuing trial becomes national news. The 11 campesinos are eventually freed, but in the
political vicissitudes of the seventies and the resentment created by the agrarian reform, the decision was overturned, and five men remained in
jail as the film was completed. The story is narrated by Ciriano Palomino, one of the men who took part in the lynching, as he sits in prison.
Many of the people who experienced the events play themselves in the film, a technique Federico Garcia also used in his earlier film Kuntur Wachana
(see below). Great music and scenery.
Sinopsis en español:
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CHULLPICHA
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The loves and adventures of two girls, Chullpicha and Anacha, who are caught up in a
complicated story taking place in military barracks. A tale of love, hate, jealousy and
violence, showing the deep roots of Andean culture.
Sinopsis en español:
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DAUGHTER OF THE SUN GOD [COCOBOLO]
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Kent, an American writer and explorer vacationing in Peru, is approached by Christine, whose uncle, an authority
on pre-Columbian cultures, has disappeared. Christine wants Kent to help her find a stolen map of the
legendary lost city of gold, where the Inka empire still thrives. Dr. Howard Knapp, an
American archeologist, joins Kent's expedition as a guide. After surviving many perils in the Peruvian
desert--snakes, crocodiles, and hostile natives--the group negotiates jungle quicksand and jaguar attacks.
Dr. Knapp, revealed to be responsible for stealing the map, separates from Kent and Christine. The couple make
their way to the Inkan city and warn the natives, who overcome the doctor and his mountain bandits.
This U.S. production, filmed in Peru and Brazil, premiered in Peru in 1960 under the title Cocobolo
but wasn't released in the U.S. until 1963. Hartford went by the pseudonym Kenneth Herts for this film.
Starring William Holmes, Lisa Montell, Harry Knapp, and Juanita Llosa as the Sun Goddess. I have no idea where
to get this film.
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DIARIOS DE MOTOCICLETA (Motorcycle Diaries)
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Before he became "El Che," the medical student Ernesto Guevara (1928-1967, played by Gael García Bernal) and his biochemist friend Alberto Granado
(1922-2011, played Rodrigo de la Serna) embarked on a road trip across South America on a beat-up motorcycle, where they saw the poverty and injustice
that would eventually make a revolutionary out of Ernesto. The film is based on Che's posthumous Diarios de Motocicleta (1993)and
Granado's Con el Che por Sudamerica (1978). The books discuss several Indigenous cultures they encounted along the way--Mapuche, Aymara, Quechua,
Yagua, and others--but the movie only shows, briefly, a couple of itinerant laborers fleeing Bolivia, and the Quechua people of Cusco. Somewhat
superficial as an adaptation of the fascinating books, the film nevertheless makes a great Road Trip movie, full of adventure, humor, and pathos, and
spectacular scenery, all of which should inspire people to learn more about Che Guevara and South America.
Sinopsis en español:
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DIOS TARDA PERO NO OLVIDA
(God Delays But Doesn't Forget)
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A group of Shining Path guerrilleros invade Patara, a community in Apurimac, and kill the
father of the boy Cirilo (played by Edwin Béjar Ochante). His mother sends him to Huamanga
to live with his aunt. But the aunt's husband is an abusive drunk, and Cirilo ends up
living on the street. He tries to make a living shining shoes and selling candy, and he
befriends another boy, Pepito (played by his brother, Nelson Bejar Ochante). Pepito finds
a job doing bad things for adults and moves to Lima, leaving Cirilo a bag of food and a
note. After more hard luck in Huamanga, Cirilo takes a bus to Lima to find his friend.
Ultra-low-budget film with non-actors. Followed by a sequel, Dios tarda pero no olvida
2, in 1999.
Sinopsis en español:
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DIOSES
(Gods)
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Agustín is a wealthy factory owner with two spoiled blond children and a brand-new trophy
girlfriend, Elisa, played by Maricielo Effio). Elisa struggles to read up on topics of interest
to Agustín's friends' wives, and struggles to make herself seem sophisticated--a goal
which includes keeping her indigenous origin a secret. She has a
dream that her mother and grandmother show up at her new home in their humble
Andean clothing and she pretends to Agustín that they are the new maids. Later we see her
visiting her family, evidently with affection, but when she marries Agustín at the end,
the family is nowhere in sight. Dioses is a mordant satire of the rich, and there
is much more to this fine film which I won't go into. The indigenous theme is just a small
but crucial part of it. Magaly Solier (Madeinusa, La Teta Asustada, Altiplano) has
a brief role as one of the maids, who are the only likable people in the story.
Sinopsis en español:
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DON MELCHO: AMIGO O ENEMIGO (Sir Melcho: Friend or Enemy)
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Based on the life of the controversial Don Melcho, a Robin Hood-type figure who gained
notoreity in the 1980s by bribing and corruping officials and giving money to the poor.
He was semi-illiterate, and some say a delinquent, killer, and rapist. He was finally
captured and killed by a paramilitary group. A shorter version of this movie is available
on Youtube (in Spanish, no subtitles): youtube.com/watch?v=7Sr9tB9vJx8&feature=PlayList&p=B761F92B4B37AE56&index=0 Review (in Spanish): cinencuentro.com/2008/04/02/primeras-imagenes-de-don-melcho-amigo-o-enemigo-opera-prima-de-arnaldo-soriano
Sinopsis en español:
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DE INDIAAN (The Indian)
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Eight-year-old Koos (Matthias den Besten) lives in Netherlands with his adoptive parents.
He knows he's from Peru, but doesn't know much else about Peru. One day at a flea market
he sees a family of Andean musicians who look like him. They teach him
about Peruvian culture and his Inka ancestors, and give him an Ekeko doll (Ekeko was the
Tiwanakan god of prosperity, and the dolls, depicting a man loaded with gifts and money, are
popular tourist souvenirs). The son Illari, a little older than Koos, introduces him to
a slingshot and teaches him about courage: "Everything collaborates
with you when you're not afraid." Koos wants to learn what his real Peruvian name was, so
Illari's father consults the coca leaves and writes the name on a roll of leather and stuffs it in a wooden tube.
Koos and Illari go to the lake and throw the tube in the water. Koos must dive for it to
find his name, but he is afraid. One day Illari tells him that his family is moving back
to Peru. Koos wants to go with them, but when he finds they have already left, he runs
away, and rows out to the "Indian Island" in the lake. He dives for the wooden tube, and
finds his name written inside: Yaku, the Quechua word for water. When his father finally
finds him on the island, he explains that Koos is a variant of his own name, Iacobus, and
that Yaku agrees nicely with Iacobus. Thus the boy learns to embrace his Peruvian culture
and also accept his parents' love. This is a nearly-perfect children's movie, with none
of the schmaltz or artificiality one often finds in such films. Matthias den Besten, who
is of Guatemalan descent, deserves special praise for this large, demanding role.
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JATUM AUKA: El enemigo principal
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A terrorist group arrives at an Andean town to recruit volunteers,
promising to free them from exploitation. They demonstrate their
earnestness by executing an hacienda owner and his chief. This is one of the films
Jorge Sanjines made while in exile. I have not seen this film.
Sanjines' other films are listed under Bolivia.
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KUKULI
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Kukuli, a young llama herder, leaves her grandparents in the
countryside of Cusco to attend the Feast of Mamacha Carmen in the town of Paucartambo. On the way she
meets Alaku, a mestizo who has lost his land. He seduces her, and they decide to enter into servinakuy (trial
marriage). Continuing their journey to Paucartambo, they consult a brujo with a llama skeleton hung outside his house.
Reading the coca leaves, the brujo notes Alaku's lack of a home and declares that death accompanies them.
Fleeing in fear, the couple reach Paucartambo and participate in the festival. A priest asks Alaku
to ring the bell at the top of the church tower. A man in a bear costume, blending in with the
festivities, follows Alaku up the tower and throws him to the ground, killing him. The bear man then
pursues Kukuli through the parade, captures her, and carries her off into the hills. The priest declares this
calamity to be the fault of the townspeople's sins, and he orders them to kill the demon bear man in atonement.
They attack the culprit with stones and farm tools, and when they remove his mask they find he is really a bear, the
Ukuku of Andean myth who attacks young women. (For a more sympathetic view of this creature, see Ukuku
below under Short Films).
Kukuli is a simple, beautiful film celebrating the culture of the Cusco region, showing many folkways--the festival, the trial marriage, the apacheta (custom of placing a stone upon a pile while traveling), honoring the apus (mountain spirits), kissing the ground before entering a new town, and the saqra dance unique to Paucartambo. This was the first full-length film made by Cine Club Cusco, founded in 1955 by Luis Figueroa, Eulogio Nishiyama, Cesar Villanueva, and Victor and Manuel Chambi (sons of the great Cusco photographer Martin Chambi). Cine Club Cusco mostly made documentaries, and Kukuli shows that influence with its emphasis on folkways. Indeed, the scant plot seems constructed specifically to document and celebrate Quechua culture.
Sinopsis en español:
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KUNTUR WACHANA Donde nacen los cóndores
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This film tells the history of campesino struggles in Cusco in the 1950s and 1960s. In 1958 a wealthy hacienda in the Urubamba Valley near Cusco weilds
absolute power. The hacendado's spiteful daughter accuses the aged pastor, Mariano Quispe (played by Aparicio Masías), of stealing sheep and he is
thrown in prison. The other campesinos are angered by the injustice and form a union to prevent further mistreatment, naming Saturnino Huillca
(played by himself) as their leader. The union gains
some legal rights, but the hacienda continues to abuse the Indians, breaking contracts and denying them access to water. When Mariano Quispe returns to
the hacienda they poison his chicha and he dies. The union is temporarily dissolved, but in 1968 a group of young farmers led by José Zúñiga Letona and
Rubén Ascue begin the struggle anew as Agrarian Reform is carried out across all of Perú. Various haciendas, learning that the government will redistribute
their land anyway, make false promises to their workers and attempt to turn the Indians and mestizos against each other. After much treachery and deceit,
including the assassination of Zúñiga Letona, the land is legally handed over to the campesinos, who form the Cooperativa Huarán.
The people who act in this film are not professional actors; they are in most cases the same people who experienced these events in the 50s and 60s.
Director Federico García was no doubt influenced by Bolivian director Jorge Sanjinés, who also employed a documentary approach with the participation of
Indians who recreated the events they experienced. Sanjinés was exiled from Bolivia and made a film in Peru in 1973, just a few years before
Kuntur Wachana. But while Sanjinés banished all traces of "folklore" and "colorismo" in his work to avoid romanticizing the Indians, Kuntur Wachana
delights in folkloric elements, especially in the prophetic theme of the title, which predicts that the condors that fled from the arrival of Pizarro
would return again and restore strength to the people. The soundtrack, a cantata popular or folk-operetta composed by Chilean Celso Garrido-Lecca,
has become one of the classics of the Nueva Canción movement of South American music. The lyrics are reproduced here:
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LAULICO
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Legend tells that Fuerabamba suffered a drought when the Spanish conquerors
captured the Wamani, the spirit of the land, and imprisoned him in their hacienda.
Ever since then, the Fuerabambinos lost their role as farmers and became
abigeos, or cattle thieves. For generations they tried to attack the
hacienda and free the imprisoned spirit, but they were always driven back.
Laulico's father led a failed attempt, and now Laulico, chief of the community
(played by Monorato Ascue)
leads another attack and succeds in taking the hacienda.
But he doesn't find the Wamani, and instead he incurs the wrath of the
white people, who crucify Girucha, Laulico's childhood friend. The community must
then decide whether to continue to search for the Wamani, and whether or
not to renew their attack on the hacienda. Laulico sports a great
soundtrack of Andean music, and the actors are from the communities of
Fuerabamba and neighboring villages. The film was dedicated to novelist
José María Arguedas.
Sinopsis en español:
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MADEINUSA
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In the small village of Manayaycuna, in the Cordillera Blanca region of
Peru, Holy Week is celebrated as a kind of Saturnalia. They believe that
from Good Friday to Easter Sunday, God is asleep and sees no sins, therefore
nothing is a sin and everything is permitted. The mayor, Don Cayo, plans
to devirginize his daughter on this "Tiempo Santo." Madeinusa (played by
Magaly Solier)
is only 14; her mother ran away to Lima for unexplained reasons, and her
sister Chale (Yiliana Chong) is nearly as abusive as her father. Into this
cauldron walks Salvador (Carlos J. de la Torre), a young geologist from
Lima stopping over on his way to another town. He is arrested for no
particular reason, and Madeinusa takes an interest in him, frees him from
her father's barn, and arranges to have Salvador deflower her before
her father can. Madeinusa is director Claudia Llosa's first film,
and also Magalay Solier's first film. It has excellent acting and directing,
and plenty of footage of indigenous customs--dancing, singing, religious
processions, etc. Solier wrote two of the songs sung in the film. I do not
know if there is a community that actually celebrates Holy Week in this
way. It may be a custom invented by Llosa, like the potato-in-the-vagina custom in
her second film, La Teta Asustada. The notes on the DVD package compare
Madeinusa to a western, but it is really more in the gothic tradition: a stranger
arrives at a strange town and meets a strange fate. More info and trailer at
www.filmmovement.com
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MAX IS MISSING
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Max (Toran Caudell) is the snotty son of an American archaeologist;
Juanito (Victor Rojas) is a savvy teen huckster who makes his living
from tourists on the Inca Trail. The two boys find themselves pulled
into a caper over a 15th-century gold
huaca sought by two criminals. In the course of their caper Juanito learns
that money isn't everything, and Max learns that, when you're poor,
money is everything. Humor, action and plot twists make this Showtime production
a fairly satisfying slice of family entertainment. Comparable to Postales below.
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NOSHINTO SHAMPORO
(Mi hija Shamporo)
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Elias, chief of an Ashaninka community in the jungle, returns to his native land to find a curandera who will
teach his daughter her craft. Father and daughter travel by boat, plane, and car to reach the aged curandera
who will then decide if Shamporo is ready to be a disciple. This film seems to be a fictionalized documentary:
the story is real but it is recreated--like so-called reality TV but without that fake feeling. (For a similar
technique, see the Mexican film Alamar.)
Official site: www.noshintoshamporo.com
Sinopsis en español:
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EL PECADO (The Sin)
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In Acocro, an indigenous community in Ayacucho, a 12-year-old boy discovers his sexual
inclinations as he begins trying on his mother's clothes and playing with his sister's
doll. His brothers abuse him, so he flees to Lima. At 18 he returns to Huamanga (the
city near Acocro where his family moved after the terrorism of the 1980s) to reunite with
his father, but finds the rest of his family as intolerant as ever. Info & trailer:
cineperucine.blogspot.es
Sinopsis en español:
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EL PERRO DEL HORTELANO (The Gardener's Dog)
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This film follows the story of a young Bora-Huitoto painter, Brus, as he discovers a unique
path to helping his community resist the encroaching Petrol Company that threatens the
future of their ancestral lands as well as their culture in the Madre de Dios rainforest
of Peru. His work has just premiered at the most prestigious gallery in Lima showcasing
psychedelic Amazonian jungle art from “indigenous artists”. But Brus is not interested
in ascending the ranks of haute culture. Instead he has reached an ideological impasse
about his own culture. The oil company is going to drill in his village, and throughout
their ancestral lands. He seeks support at a local NGO and finds himself entangled in the
subversive work of an American researcher, Angie. Ultimately, Brus navigates his way
through the surreal world of “development” pioneers, well-to-do volunteers, and corporate
strategists discovering his own way of bringing strength to his community. You can order the DVD from the film's website: www.perrodelhortelano.com
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POSTALES (Postcards)
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A white family from the U.S. comes to Cusco to survey a plot of land where they plan to
build a hotel. The poor Quechua family living in a shack on the land are informed that
they must move out in three days. The two teen boys make a living on the streets, the older
one, Jano, by pickpocketing, and the younger, Pablo, by selling postcards. In a series of
coincidences, each brother ends up meeting the same-aged daughter of the U.S. family.
Jaro seduces the older girl, and she waits for her family to spend the day in Sacsaywaman
so she can bring him up to their hotel room. The story between the younger boy and younger
girl is more tender. Pablo returns the wallet that Jano has stolen from the girl's father,
and they spend the day strolling through beautiful Cusco as the girl arrives at an
understanding of the poverty lurking behind every corner of the city's tourist charm.
Postales is a little on the "messagy" side, but the sweet story, compelling pacing,
and an honest view of this great city with all its contradicions make the film a success.
Official site: postales-themovie.com
Sinopsis en español:
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SANGRE Y TRADICION
(Blood and Tradition)
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Liz and Ramiro make love in the mountains as they wait for the New Year festivities. The
evil Naqak (Pishtaco) rapes and kills Liz. Ramiro escapes and hides with his friends, but
Liz's blood lies in the earth without peace. Ramiro must spill the blood of her killer to
allow her spirit to rest.
Sinopsis en español:
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SECRET OF THE INCAS
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Charlton Heston plays Harry Steele, a tour guide and archaeological thief
looking for a gold sunburst which disappeared at the time of the fall of
the Inca empire and which, when found, will signal the return of the empire.
But others are also looking for the sunburst--Steel's rival thief Morgan,
a team of archaeologists, and of course the Quechua Indians. Secret of
the Incas bears surprising similarities to the Indiana Jones movies,
but lags way behind in suspense or action. Filmed on location in Machu
Picchu, and filled with throngs of indigenous actors in traditional
costumes. Secret of the Incas may be most famous for a performance
by Peru's legendary singer Yma Sumac. This scene is actually poorly synced, and
her operatic style seems grotesquely out of place against the rugged Andean
landscape.
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SIN SENTIMIENTO El ultimo amanecer (Without Feeling: The Last Dawn)
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A tiny village in the mountains of Ayacucho is beset with a series of murders. The people
suspect Jorge, a merchant passing through the village. The timid Crisilda, sister of the
richest businessman in the village, falls in love with Jorge and decides to run off with
him. Her brother raises a lynch party to pursue them.
Website: zankayproducciones.wordpress.com/2008/04/13/sin-sentimiento-ayacucho-2007 Trailer: www.youtube.com/watch?v=mIKeYl6aYfE
Sinopsis en español:
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EL ÚLTIMO GUERRERO CHANKA (The Last Chanka Warrior)
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500 years ago there existed a race of warriors called the Chankas, who sacrificed a witch
who vowed that he would return to take revenge on them. Five millennia later, two
archaeology students discover strange signs in ancient rocks. The time has come for the
evil being to free himself and unleash his fury. The Chancay were a genuine culture that
flourished in Lima between 800 and 1400 A.D. and left behind a distinctive, comical style
of pottery, but El último guerrero Chanka dispenses with history to
present a mash-up of fantasy, horror and martial arts films. Facebook page: facebook.com/elultimo.guerrerochanka Interview with the director (in Spanish): cinencuentro.com/2011/01/06/el-ultimo-guerrero-chanka-victor-zarabia
Sinopsis en español:
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EL VIENTO DEL AYAHUASCA
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Miguel (played by Johnny Palacios), a Lima sociologist visiting Iquitos, meets Nexy
(Silvia Chavez Toro), an Amazonian native. Miguel
finds that Nexy has many phobias, including a fear of Yacurunas, mythic creatures of the
Amazon. To cure her fears the couple seek the help of Meliton (Meliton Delgado), a curandero, who administers an ayahuasca ritual and helps her relive her
infancy and the destruction of her home. After Nexy disappears, Miguel submits to the
ayahuasca ritual to better understand the beliefs of the Amazon people. El viento del
ayahuasca is Nora de Izcue's only fiction film; she has made several documentaries on
indigenous peoples of Peru, the Agrarian reform, and the Fujimori administration.
Viento del ayahuasca is seemingly impossible to find, but there is a clip on
Youtube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UCyt9tGZ0kM
Sinopsis en español:
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LA BOCA DEL LOBO (The Wolf's Mouth)
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El Sendero Luminoso has visited the Indian village of Chuspi in the Department of Cusco, leaving behind their flag
and threatening graffiti. The Peruvian army is sent in to apprehend the Senderistas
(we never see them on screen) or its sympathizers. One of the soldiers rapes a
girl in the village, and when she reports him to the lieutenant, the
lieutenant covers up the incident. When the same soldier tries to crash
a village party and is thrown out, the lieutentant once again feels he
has to cover up for him, leading to a series of events
that culminates in horrors. A terrifying cautionary tale of the
machismo that turns armies into marauders as evil as the enemy they were
sent to defeat. The official English title is "The Lion's Den," though the
original Spanish title means "The Wolf's Mouth."
Sinopsis en español:
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NI CON DIOS NI CON EL DIABLO (With Neither God nor the Devil)
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Jeremías Ayunque (played by Marino Leon, who starred in Gregorio and its sequel
Anda, Corre, Vuela,), is a 16-year old alpaca herder in Pampamayo, a village in
Junín, Ayacucho. One day he finds
that an alpaca as delivered a two-headed calf. The village shaman interprets the omen to
mean that God and the Devil have made a pact against Jeremias. When Shining Path
terrorists come to the village, it looks as if the omen may come true,
and Jeremias flees his mountain home, heading for Lima. On the way he finds a job as
a stone-cutter in the frozen mountains, which he can only endure for one day. Once he
arrives in Lima, he seeks the help of his godfather to get a job as a construction
site security guard. One night he is mugged, and when he returns to work he finds that
the site has been burglarized and he loses his job. Finally, Jeremias finds a job as
a butler at a wealthy police chief's home. But here he learns that he is wanted as a
narcoterrorist for his presumed assocation with the Shining Path--the people who drove him
to Lima in the first place! As the title suggests, Ni con Dios ni con el diablo
is a pessimistic film (an unfortunate trend in Latin American movies of the 70s, 80s, and
90s). Occasional comic relief comes with his stint as a butler, when he learns how to
use a telephone and tries champagne for the first time.
The Shining Path only play a brief role on the screen, but the the film effectively shows the fate of thousands of campesinos who were driven from the countryside by the group's violence and swelled Lima's urban sprawl to its limits. Like Antuca and Gregorio, it is an epic of the Indian arriving in the Big City. Unlike many other films on the Shining Path, however, Ni con Dios does show some of the more positive side of the socialist efforts of the time. The friends who help him get to Lima, for instance, are pamphleteers supporting unions.
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LA VIDA ES UNA SOLA (You Only Live Once)
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Three college students visit the mountain village of Rayopampa during a carnival. They partake
of the festivities, and a local girl, Florinda, falls in love with Marcelino, one of the
visitors. The visitors begin talking about organizing the community, and the villagers
realize that these are members of the Sendero Luminoso. The community leaders debate
whether to report the visitors to the local authorities. Before they can settle the issue,
the authorities have arrived, sniffing out trouble. They demand food and then go away.
The next day, Teodisio, the community president, receives a death threat for feeding the
authorities, the oppressors, and they find a communist flag and graffiti. Teodosio goes
to the authorities downhill, who rudely deny assistance and tell Teodosio he should be
willing to sacrifice his life for his country. The next day, Teodosio's body is found with
a sign labelling him a soplón (whistle-blower), and another threat that anyone who
buries him will also die. When the Sendero Luminoso returns, they recruit several villagers,
including children, into their army, and a clash between the Senderistas and the Defensa
Civil breaks out. Of all the films on the Shining Path, La vida es una sola is the
most harrowing, showing how both the terrorists and the government claimed the campesinos
as their own, but were equally cruel in disregarding their lives and safety. Yet it is
also beautiful at times, with its lovely folk tunes and occasionally poetic dialogue,
and the final moving scene when Florinda is ousted from the community.
Director Marianne Eyde was born in Norway and moved to Peru in the 70s and founded Kusi Films. She filmed this movie--her third--in the community of Ccachín in Calca Province, Cusco, and used local, non-professional actors for most of the parts as well as the music. Thus the scenery, costumes, rituals, and festivities are all very authentic (although the people of Ccachín probably speak more Quechua than they do in the film). Cinematographer César Pérez also worked with Jorge Sanjines, and through constant, circular movement he gives this film that same newsreel feeling of urgency and inevitability that animates Sanjines' work.
Cast:
Sinopsis en español:
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THE DANCER UPSTAIRS
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A big-budget U.S. production with A-list actors Javier Bardem and Juan
Diego Botto, The Dancer Upstairs puts a police-story/love-story
spin on the terrorist reign of The Shining Path. Based on the novel by
English author Nicholas Shakespeare, the film doesn't mention The Shining
Path or even Peru by name, but it is closely based on the real events, the
major fictional departure being a love interest between the detective
(Bardem) and the woman harboring the leader of the terrorist group.
Bardem's character is part Indian and speaks Quechua, and Indigenous
actors speaking Quechua are used for some minor roles. It's
a fine film, complex and subtle, but too Hollywoodish and North American
in its references, actors, and soundtrack. U.S. audiences could have handled a
more authentically Latin American ambience, as they did with John Sayles'
Men with Guns (set in Guatemala.)
The most serious flaw in the film is that all the Indian characters are portrayed as
absolutely devoted to the Shining Path. One character says of their leader,
"He is the wind in every tree". The children in La vida es una sola (below) are
required to recite such pieties, but in The Dancer Upstairs the Indians do so
willingly, even fervently. We never see the Shining Path's horrifying recruiting practices.
Even when the detective travels to his home town, an Indigenous village where his father
once owned a coffee farm, we see no trace of dissidence, only militant revolutionaries.
The film fails to portray the Indians as humans except for the mestizo detective played
by a high-profile Spanish actor.
Sinopsis en español:
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PALOMA DE PAPEL (Paper Dove)
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A village in the Andes is terrorized by El Sendero Luminoso. Three children are kidnapped
and forced to proclaim their allegiance to El Sendero. This film tells a very similar story
to that of La vida es una sola, but with higher production values, more like a
mainstream Hollywood movie. The tale is told through the reminiscences of a man who has
spent 20 years in prison for his involvement with the Sendero, even though he was only eleven
when they forcibly recruited him. Many viewers will prefer this film to La vida es una
sola, though I prefer Marianne Eyde's earlier, grittier effort.
Sinopsis en español:
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LA TETA ASUSTADA (The Milk of Sorrow)
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Fausta (played by Magaly Solier) is a melancholy young woman who becomes even more
depressed after her mother dies. When her uncle takes her to the doctor because of her
fainting spells, the doctor tells the uncle
that Fausta has an infection because she keeps a potato in her vagina (which she believes
will keep men from touching her). But her uncle explains that her illness is "la teta
asustada" (literally "the astonished tit"), a disease transmitted through the milk of
mothers who were raped or abused during Peru's terrorist war. Fausta remembers watching
her mother's rape from inside the
womb, and believes that her soul has hidden in the ground ever since. In order to raise
money to take her mother's body back to her hometown for burial,
Fausta must overcome her fear of the outside and accept a job as a maid at "The Big House,"
the home of a wealthy concert pianist. The pianist, a cold woman, has writers' block and
plagiarizes
the folksongs she hears Fausta singing in Spanish and Quechua (Magaly Solier
wrote many of these songs herself). The elderly gardener Noé (Efraín Solís), also employed
at the Big House, gently helps Fausta overcome her fear of men. This slow-paced film is
full of symbolism and rewards the patient, perceptive viewer. La teta
asustada is director Claudia Llosa's second feature, and her second collaboration with
Magaly Solier (see Madeinusa above).
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GREGORIO
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An Andean family moves from their ancestral mountain village to Lima in
order to find work, and they experience a culture shock
at the noise, confusion, and inhuman sprawl of the city. When the father dies,
12-year-old Gregorio (Marino León de la Torre) must work as a lustrabotas (shoeshiner),
making a long daily trek from the shantytown slums to the city center. Working on the streets,
he befriends a gang of street punks and is lured into a life of petty
crime. The film begins in Quechua and switches abruptly to Spanish upon
arrival in the metropolis, and the story is occasionally interspersed with
scenes of a slightly older Gregorio facing the camera and telling what he
has learned from his experiences. Thus the film has a documentary feel to
it, which the filmmakers gradually move away from in the next two films in
the series, Juliana and Anda, Corre, Vuela.
Sinopsis en español:
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JULIANA
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Juliana (played by Rosa Isabel Morffino) is a 13-year-old girl who sells
flowers at the cemetery. Envying the more freewheeling life of her little
brother, she abandons her mother and stepfather and disguises herself as
a boy to join her little brother's street gang, led by the creepy Don
Pedro and his sidekick Cobra. They sell cigarettes, perform on buses,
whatever brings in a little money to hand over to Don Pedro for the
privilege of living in his hideout. Juliana shows hardly any trace
of Indian culture, as these slum kids are disconnected from their
ancestral inheritance by the forces of poverty and neglect. Although the
two films are not related, the main characters of Juliana and
Gregorio come together in the film Anda, Corre, Vuela. The
film won awards in Berlin, Biarritz, and Huelva, Spain.
Sinopsis en español:
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ANDA, CORRE, VUELA (Go, Run, Fly)
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Gregorio and Juliana, now 19 and 21, are young adults faced with the
meager opportunities available to people in Lima in the 1990s, when the
armed forces and the communist terrorist group El Sendero Luminoso ripped
the country apart in civil war. With humor and creativity Gregorio and
Juliana learn to survive in this violent world. The rock soundtrack and
action-movie-style editing are quite a stretch from the quasi-documentary
style of Gregorio, thereby creating a sense of completion to the
trilogy, which traces the path of Indian integration into mainstream
society, for better or for worse.
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JARJARCHA: DEMONIO DEL INCESTO (Jarjacha: The Incest Demon)
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Three anthropology students come to a small Andean town to study extreme poverty. They
can't find lodging in the town and finally come to the house of a woman weeping over the
body of her dead brother. They stay in her home, then help her bring the coffin to the
cemetery, since no else is helping her. The next day a dead body is discovered with
unusual signs that suggest the activity of the Jarjacha--a demon that sucks fat out of
people, and only appears when someone in the town has committed incest. A posse is formed
to find the sinners, and they capture two llamas, which in the morning turn out to be
a man and woman. The incestuous couple is stoned to death, but the jarjacha continues to
attack the next day. This is a very low-budget horror flick, sometimes laughably
bad, but often more effective than some big-budget horror movies. It also provides an
authentic portrayal of an Andean village (everyone is chewing coca leaves, for instance).
The myth of the incest demon who steals fat from its victims is very common throughout the Andes. Variations of the creature go by the names Qarqacha, Jarjacha, Náqak, or Pishtaco. The creature has come to be associated with the white man, and is depicted as white in this film. (See, for instance, Altiplano above, where the villagers call the white doctors pishtacos when mercury poisoning from the mines starts killing people.)
Sinopsis en español:
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NÁKAQ
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This is easily the worst monster movie of the bunch, and one of the most unfathomably
awful movies I've ever seen. Nákaq isn't even a monster in this one--that would have been
beyond the budget--but just a guy in a cape and hood with some half-assed kung fu moves
who attacks people for no particular reason. The village idiot Satuca provides some of the
funniest scenes in the movie, for which I give the film an extra arrow.
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PISTHACU
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Another variation on the sacamantecas (fat-stealing) creature. This film focuses
on a band of townsmen who attempt to capture and the pishtaco, and twice end up killing
humans--though one of them was a rapist. One of the townsmen is arrested for taking part
in the lynching. The film begins and ends with a framing scenario in which a man at a
typewriter tells the story, and concludes that pishtacos exist in the real world in the
form of foreigners who come to South America to exploit natural resources. For more info
on these movies and the sacamantecas myth, see this blog: yulifero.blogspot.com/2008/02/el-sacamantecas-de-ayacucho-un-cuento.html | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
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TUNCHE: MISTERIOS DE LA SELVA
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A group of medical students go to the jungle to fulfill a research assignment on natural
medicine. They ignore the warnings of the indigenous inhabitants and enter a dangerous
area where the Tunche dwells. The tunche is a clawed creature who can assume the shape of
animals or even the friends of his victims.
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| FILMS NOT YET REVIEWED: | |
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El Abigeo (Flaviano Quispe, 2001) Alla ricerca dell'impero sepolto (Gianfranco Parolini, 1988) Allpakallpa: La fuerza de la tierra (Bernardo Arias, 1974) Amor en las alturas (Percy Pacco, 2008) Amor en los andes (Hani Susumu, 1968) [Japanese film] [A Japanese girl moves to a village in the Andes and learns about their customs. Also known as Bride of the Andes.] Ashaninka (José María "Chema" Salcedo, 2007) Aya Tullu (Julio Oré, 2010) Bajo el sol de Loreto (1936) (first color film made in Peru) Buscando a Papa (Flaviano Quispe, 2008, 132 min.) Caciques (Héctor Marreros, 2005, 90 min.) [Involucrado el hijo del alcalde en un crimen y como único testigo la pareja del sacerdote de la comunidad, la película muestra el chantaje y el sometimiento de un pueblo a la contaminación del medio ambiente por parte de una empresa minera, el descontento social y la injusticia por el abuso del poder de las autoridades.--> Cadena de cristal (Nilo Inga, 2007, 45 min.) Camino a la verdad (Elmer Estofanero Fuentes, 2010) Camino de la venganza (a.k.a. La venganza del Indio) (Luis S. Ugarte Y Narciso Rada, 1922) [Silent movie; considered Peru's first full-length fiction film.] Casa embrujada (Joseph Lora, 2007) Casa rosada (Palito Ortega Matute, 2009) [A family in Ayacucho suffers through the violence of the 1980s. The mother is killed and the father is conscripted into a terrorist group, leaving three children to fend for themselves.] Coliseo (Alessandro Rossi, 2011) Con nervios de toro (Nilo Inga, 2010) [Lucero retorna a su pueblo después de muchos años, para cumplir el Carguyoc (cargo) de realizar la fiesta del pueblo de Llacuas Huáchac. La presencia de Lucero cambiara totalmente la estructura de las festividades por la influencia modernista que trae. Le dará un matiz diferente a las costumbres y tradiciones, sembrando enfrentamientos y contradicciones en la comunidad.] Cuando el cielo es azul (Sandra Wiese, 2004) Curucu, Beast of the Amazon (Curt Siodmak, 1955) [made in USA] Cusco 4 Suyos (Alvaro Sarmiento, 2010) [not sure if film was completed] Dios perdona el pecado, el incesto no (Palito Ortega Matute, 2009) Dios tarda pero no Olvida II (Palito Ortega Matute, 1999) El Dorado (2010, Terry Cunningham, 180 minutes) El encanto de la sirena (Javier Peralta Durán, 2010) Encuentro de dos mundos: la otra cara (Héctor Marreros, 2010) [Comedia andina que parodia el encuentro del conquistador Francisco Pizarro con el Inca Atahualpa.] El espacio entre las cosas (Raúl del Busto, 2011) [not sure about Indian content] Fuerza del condor (Esau Mamani Cotacallapa, 2012) Good Bye Pachacutek (Federico Gabriel Garcia, 2006) Green Hell (James Whale, 1940) [made in U.S.] Gritos de libertad (Luis Berrocal, 2003) |
Hercules vs. the Sons of the Sun (Osvaldo Civirani, 1964) El hijo prodigo: una pelicula huancaina (Daniel Nunez Duran) Huaca (Nilo Inga, 2000, 73 min.) Huerfanito (Flaviano Quispe, 2004) Imperio del sol (Ramiro Diaz Tupa, 2003) Incesto en los Andes: La maldicion de los jarjachas (Palito Ortega Matute, 2002) Jarjacha III (Palito Ortega Matute) Jarjacha vs. Pishtaco: La batalla final (Nilo Escriba Palomino) Justicia Popular (Jorge Paredes) Lagrimas de fuego (José Gabriel Huertas, 1996) El niño que quería ser oso (Anja Dalhoff, 1999, 32 min.) [Un niño pastor pierde sus ovejas. Con temor del castigo de su papá, decide no regresar a su casa.] Lengua de los zorros (Federico García Hurtado, 1991) Leyenda del condenado (Cine Aymara, 2011) website La maldición de los Jarjachas II (Palito Ortega Matute, 2003) Maracio, el sentir de los pobres (Rondolfo Mamani Mogrovejo, 2011) Marcados por el destino (Oscar Gonzales, 2009) (website) Milagro en la selva (Andy Janczak, 1969) [A plane crashes in the Amazon and the sole survivor, a little boy, is captured by Jivaros.] Milagroso Udilberto Vásquez (Héctor Marreros, 2006) El Misterio del Kharisiri (Henry Vallejos, 2004) Mónica, más alla de la muerte (Roger Acosta, 2008) Objetos (Rafael Arevalo, 2011) Ofelia (Humberto Gutiérrez Montero, 2007, 11 min.) Pueblo viejo (Hans Matos Cámac, 2012) Q’ayqasqa: Cuentos de San Jerónimo (Maykon Lope, 2010, 12 min.) El rincón de los inocentes (Palito Ortega Matute, 2005) Los Ronderos (Marianne Eyde, 1987, 74 min.) [Based on real events in Chota, Cajamarca, 1978-1980.] Sangre de selva (Ricardo Villarán, 1937) Sangre inocente (Palito Ortega Matute, 2000) Sendero del Chulo (Oscar Catorca, 2007, 45 min.) Sufrimiento de madre (Daniel Núñez Duran, 2009, 85 min.) Supay, el hijo del condenado (Miler Eusebio Morales, 2010) Los Taitas (Héctor Marreros, 2004, 80 min.) [Los campesinos viven únicamente del producto de su trabajo en las chacras y el servicio militar obligatorio se convierte en un problema que los aleja del trabajo.] Terror in the Jungle (Tom DeSimone, 1968) Tesoro de Atahualpa (Roberto Saá Silva, 1924) (made in Ecuador but set in Peru) Todas las sangres (Michel Gómez, 1987) (Based on the novel by José María Arguedas) Tramontana (Carlos Pérez Ferré, 1991) Uma, cabeza de bruja (Lalo Parra Bello, 2005) [Un profesor y sus alumnos intentan capturar la cabeza desprendida de una bruja, pues según la creencia, serán recompensados por esta si mantienen los hechos en secreto.] Vilchico: el pacto diabolico (Héctor Oré Ruiz, 2010)
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| SHORT FILMS / CORTOMETRAJES: | ||
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LA AGONÍA DE RASU ÑITI Director: Augusto Tamayo San Roman Writers: Augusto Tamayo, Anina Sanchez, Alejandro Rossi Cinematography: Cesar Perez Editing: Manolo Cordero 1985. 32 minutes. Setting: central highlands Language: Spanish; songs in Quechua Release: Youtube |
Based on the 1962 story by José María Arguedas. An aged danzak' (dancer) decides that the time has come for him
to die. He hears the wamani (mountain spirit) calling him. He puts on the costume of the scissor dancer,
summons his family, his musicians and his dancing pupil, and dances until he dies. Available on
Youtube.
Sinopsis en español: |
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KENTISHANI Y CHAAVAJA Director/writer: Aldo Salvino Cinematography: Juan Durán 1996. 29 minutes. Setting: Ashaninka village in Amazon Language: Ashaninka Release: VHS (subtitles in Spanish)
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Two Asháninka children, Kentishani (played by Fredie Iñapi) and Chaavaja
(played by Yerme Aquituari) return from a visit to relatives and find
their village destroyed and in flames. The only survivor they find is
their grandfather, who tells them to run to Shima and warn their
relatives of the coming danger. As the two children head toward Shima
they encounter a wounded soldier who commands them to take him down river
in their canoe. Although they don't speak each other's language, the
children and the soldier eventually learn to respect each other. After
a brief stay at the militar base, Kentishani and Chaavaja return home
to rebuild their village.
Sinopsis en español: |
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Chicle (Gum) Director: Josh Hyde 2005. 14 min. In English, Quechua and Spanish Chicle addresses the innocence and incorruptibility of a young boy trying to survive and remain on the path to morality in Cusco, despite the depraved actions of those around him. Pablo, a gum seller, discovers a lost American girl and helps her find her mother. Meanwhile, his older brother robs an American tourist who happens to be lost girl's mother and gives the stolen money to his own mother. Pablo has to return to his family heartbroken and empty-handed. But his spirits are raised when his brother presents him with a stolen photo of the girl, and his mother gives him two American dollars to buy gum for the next day. This film was remade into the feature-length film Postales. | |
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Chullachaqui Director: Dorian Fernández 2007. 30 min. Inspirado en la leyenda amazónica del chullachaqui. Siete estudiantes de biología se internan dentro de la selva amazónica para recolectar muestras y tomar apuntes para una asignación final. El lugar elegido es Supayacu (Cocha del diablo), donde se han reportado misteriosas desapariciones. En el trayecto, vivirán una serie de acciones que harán de un viaje de placer y con fin académico, una auténtica pesadilla, en la cual irán desapareciendo uno por uno, sin percatarse que quizás se han encontrado, sin desearlo en medio de la exuberante vegetación, con una criatura mitológica y fatídica de pies desiguales. Algunos de los rasgos más saltantes de esta criatura, según la mitología amazónica, son su capacidad de mimetización, adquiriendo la forma que desee. Además, una característica cojera, producto de la asimetría de sus pies. Dícese que en circunstancias muy especiales, sale al bosque a buscar incautos o personas en excursión, los cuales al ser hechizados, son conducidos hasta parajes desconocidos y nunca más se vuelve a saber de ellos. | |
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Danzak Director: Gabriela Yepes 2008. 19 min. Nina is a 10-year-old girl whose life dramatically changes when her father, a Master Scissor Dancer, asks her to fulfill her last wish. This is based loosely on the José María Arguedas short story, "La agonia de Rasu Ñiti" (see above), adding another episode and telling the tale from the daughter's point of view. Released as a bonus feature on the DVD of the Colombian film Los viajes del viento (Wind Journeys). | |
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Kay Pacha Director/writer: Álvaro Sarmiento 2012. 15 minutes. Un drama con tintes de humor que relata la vida de Maribel, de 15 años, quien trabajan en la calle tomándose fotografías con turistas junto a su amiga Rosmery. Escuchan en la radio sobre un concurso de canto y Maribel sueña con participar, sin embargo solo es un sueño. Ella debe trabajar día a día para poder ayudar económicamente a sus padres. Available online: https://vimeo.com/54194518# | |
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Leyenda de las Islas de Pachacamac Director: Álvaro Villarán 1985. 15 min. Narra la historia de la Diosa Cavillaca, pretendida por otros dioses, que compiten por su amor. El bromista Cuniraya será finalmente quien la conquiste. Al seguir manteniendo oculta su identidad, en la forma de un mendigo, la orgullosa Cavillaca, avergonzada por lo que supone una afrenta a su belleza, huye con su hijo hacia el mar. La Diosa y su hijo se convierten en las islas que están frente a Pachacamac en las costas de Lurín, al sur de Lima. Actuación con máscaras del grupo teatral Yuyachkani.
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El sueño del pongo Director: Santiago Álvarez 1970. 8 min. B&W. Adaptation of the classic José María Arguedas story by a Cuban filmmaker. This is not exactly a movie but a collage of still photos shown while a narrator reads Arguedas' story. Available on Daily Motion: http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x4u5tv_el-sueno-del-pongo-arguedas_shortfilms [Un hombrecito indio entra a trabajar de Pongo (sirviente) y su patrón es dueño de una inmensa casona en Perú. El pongo sueña el castigo que recibirá el patrón, por las maldades que ha cometido, después de que ambos hayan muerto.] | |
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Una tragedia del alcohol Director: Joseph Lora 2009. 13 min. Quechua. Silvestre Condori retorna hebrio a su casa luego de gastarse el dinero de la venta de los vellones que su esposa Antuca le habia encargado, Antuca y su hija Mañuca aguardan la llegada de Silvestre. Silvestre ya cerca a su casa encuentra a Miguelcha su hermano, invitándole a beber unos tragos más en la casa, luego de concluir una botella, éste entra a la cocina y le dice a Antuca que le preste el tupo de su manta para abrir una nueva, ella se opone; caldeando los ánimos del marido y este en un arranque de furia golpea con la botella en la cabeza de Antuca, desparramándose el trago por doquier y causando un incendio de descomunales proporciones y la muerte a su esposa y su pequeña hija. josephlorautda.blogspot.com/2008/09/una-trajedia-del-alcohol-rodaje.html youtube.com/watch?v=QxP30mHglqU | |
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Ukuku Director: Gastón Vizcarra 2009. 20 min. A more kindly version of the woman-bear offspring myth than the one found in Kukuli above. This Ukuku is not a menace but a misfit, a misunderstood creature looking for ice in a warming world. http://vimeo.com/15212858 [El ukuku de la mitología andina es una criatura nacida de la unión de una mujer con un oso de anteojos, de los que hereda su sabiduría y fuerza, respectivamente. Su condición de semidios le confiere la potestad de salvaguardar la buena conducta de su poblado, sin embargo, su principal función es la de escalar a los más altos nevados de la cordillera para picar un pedazo de hielo que bajará para la ceremonia de purificación del pueblo y de sus primeras cosechas. En los tiempos que corren, es durante la fiesta del Señor de Qoylluriti, en Cusco, cuando los ukukus ascienden a los nevados en pos de las bendiciones. En El Ukuku de Gastón Vizcarra los tiempos han cambiado y la naturaleza sufre los efectos del calentamiento global y las incurias del hombre, ergo el ukuku--símbolo de la cosmovisión andina y la conservación del medio ambiente--está desfasado de su contexto y por eso desvaría en la costa. El corto pone en contraste la jocosa actitud del ukuku con la irritable conducta de los costeños como símbolo de dos mundos distantes.] | |
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Viaje de ilusiones Director: Alejandro Legaspi 1997. 10 minutes. Julian, a boy from the countryside, sees his village emptying out, his friends and neighbors fleeing from a devastating drought. Julian's father consults a curandero who reads in the coca leaves death and desolation. The father is determined to stay, but Julian finds a job at a gold prospecting camp in the jungle. There he begins to understand why his father did not want to abandon his village and his culture. From the director of Gregorio and Juliana.
Julián, un niño campesino de 12 años, ve con tristeza cómo su pequeño pueblo se va quedando vacío. Sus amigos y vecinos
huyen de la terrible sequía que empobrece cada día más a todos. El padre de Julián pide al brujo que lea el futuro en
las hojas de coca y lo que éstas presagian es muerte y desolación; esto no atemoriza al padre de Julián, quien está
decidido a quedarse en su comunidad, pero Julián decide ir a trabajar a los lavaderos de oro de la Selva. Ya en el
campamento, Julián se da cuenta que todo es diferente. Recién entiende por qué su padre no abandona su pueblo, su
cultura, ni su tierra. Con Robert Matamoros, Joel Ezeta, Merit Olaya, y William Hipan.
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| MAP OF INDIGENOUS GROUPS AND LANGUAGES IN PERU: | ||
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