The systematic illegal persecution and annihilation of political opponents of the 1979-1983 Argentine military dictatorship, commonly known today as the "Dirty War", became one of the main themes of the nation's cinema after the regime's fall. In this study, while providing a detailed survey of the conditions of production of post-dictatorship Argentine cinema, the author focuses on a selected corpus of films in order to explore how issues of memory, mourning and trauma, together with questions of gender and genre representation, have been dealt with in the cinema that followed the advent of democracy in 1983. By means of a solid theoretical underpinning and the thorough textual analysis of some canonical films, such as La historia oficial and Sur, and others less well known, for example En retirada, La amiga, El acto en cuestión, the book offers new insights into contemporary Latin American cinema.
Constanza Burucúa, having completed her PhD at the University of Warwick, is an independent film producer in Caracas.
Reviews
Makes a considerable contribution to articulating Argentine (film) history. An important resource for those with a serious interest in film studies and Argentine social history. Highly recommended. CHOICE
Details
First Published: 19 Mar 2009
13 Digit ISBN: 9781855661806
Pages: 242
Size: 23.4 x 15.6
Binding: Hardback
Imprint: Tamesis Books
Series: Monografías A
Subject:
Hispanic StudiesBIC Class: GTB
Details updated on 04 Feb 2012
Contents
- 1 Introduction
- 2 In Focus: On Film and History, National Cinema and Mourning Work
- 3 Revisiting Third Cinema: Its Legacy and Derivations in Argentine National Cinema
- 4 Remnants of the Dirty War: On the Policial, the Political Thriller and the Paramilitary Thriller
- 5 Gendering History: The Dirty War in Women's Cinema
- 6 Metaphoric Representations of the 1976-1983 Military Dictatorship
- 7 Conclusion
