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INFLUENCE OF THE ITALIAN NEOREALISM ON URUGUAYAN

CONTEMPORARY CINEMA

Adrin Singer

Italian Neo-realism (IN) has broadly and deeply influenced South American cinema. Its main

continental representative was the New Latin American Cinema (NLAC) mostly seen in the

!ra"ilian Cinema Novo and in the Ar#entinean $Cine de la Liberaci%n (Liberation Cinema). It

was also very important in Cuba&s National Cinema and in the 'eican realist movement as well.

All of these movements wored in the late fifties and sities until the military coup d&etats of the

seventies.

*ru#uayan cinema was deeply influenced by the NLAC and by IN. +owever its

production was ne#li#ible because of its si"e and its lac of a national film industry (+andler ,

in# /0 and 'art1ne" Carril 0). 2ust two directors 'ario +andler and *#o *live hi#hli#hted as

filmmaers with serious cinematic pro3ects (in# /4). !oth adopted the doctrine established by

Solanas and 5etino in their manifesto $6owards a 6hird Cinema7 and by 8ocha in his $An

9sthetic of +un#er7. 6he result were a small number of relevant NLAC films such as +andler&s

$Carlos: cinerretrato de un caminante7 and *live&s $*n vint;n p&al 2udas7.

After the years of +andler and *live&s movies *ru#uay lived under a military

dictatorship durin# which no *ru#uayan cinema was produced ecept for #overnment


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be#innin# of what seems to be a continuous movement towards a national production, which it

is worth notin# reveals a specific *ru#uayan reinterpretation of NLAC and IN.

'y hypothesis for this paper is that the contemporary *ru#uayan filmmaers tae much

of the ideolo#y and many of the elements of epression of IN and of the NLAC but they avoid

followin# a $pure7 realism in which reality be showed $as is7. Bavattini says that

The role of the artist is not to angry or to excite the spectator through transpositions, but to make him

think (or even, if you want, to angry or to excite him) about things he and others do, that is to say, in the

reality as it exactly is.

If his idea to#ether with !a"in&s idea of neo-realism means that mis-en-scene disappears

to epose the nude reality then contemporary *ru#uayan movies embed $traditional cate#ories

of spectacle7 within their realism. 6hus contemporary *ru#uayan filmmaers mae modernistmovies but they use neo-realism&s ethic and esthetic to mae $social7 cinema. At a certain point

what happens is what !alint ovasc says about the influence of IN on modern cinema the use

of the $stylistic surface of neorealism7.?

In addition some of these *ru#uayan films even place some ind of refleivity thus

followin# the =rench Nouvelle Ha#ue school. In fact the Nouvelle Ha#ue is stron#ly present in

this cinema specifically in its search of esthetic innovation and in its inclusion of urban

bour#eoisie into their sub3ects. 6his #eneral conception has many of the particularities of thepost-NLAC such as reco#ni"in# the difficulties (and @uestionin# the necessity) of resistin# the

dominant American-9uropean aesthetics. 6ain# distance from $pure7 IN&s realism *ru#uayan

directors $ne#otiate their own political and artistic visions in accordance with the commercial

demands of #lobal film finance arran#ements7 (lie other Latin American filmmaers do).

Fhat&s interestin# in the *ru#uayan case is that this situation is not only economic or political

but also culturally sin#ular - what AchJ#ar calls $pa1s peti"o7 (dwarf country)E or the very

,6he term $national production7 is relative and problematic here since all of these *ru#uayan movies are co-produced. In the 9uropean contet 6homas 9lsaesser ar#ues that movies with these characteristics are $post-national7 movies (9lsaesser 4-4). +owever these *ru#uayan movies are presented both to the festivals and to theaudience as *ru#uayan films. !ecause the purpose of this paper is not to discuss their $national7 or $post-national7character we tentatively tae them as *ru#uayan films.

Bavattini (,/E: 4E) translated from +ebrew.

?!alint ovasc (DD0: EE).K&Lu#o (DD?: ,D?).EAchJ#ar (,//0: ,?).

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particular *ru#uayan culture of mediocrity and impotence. 6his cultural particularity lins

especially with the resi#nation of the new movies to use a $pure7 realism and especially to

provoe any social chan#e as opposed to the very basic intentions of IN and the NLAC.

Althou#h there are many more I have selected three films to centrali"e this analysis:

,. Fhisy

. Aparte

?. 6he >ope&s 6oilet

I have selected them because of their importance not only academic but also commercial.

$Fhisy7 was far reco#ni"ed abroad and was seen by ,.000 (Control B =ilms) a relatively hi#h

number in *ru#uayan terms for national productions. $Aparte7 was seen in *ru#uay by more

people than $6he 'atri7 by the last wee of 2uly DD? (andabarat) and $6he >ope&s 6oilet7

a new film has received approimately D pri"es abroad and more than 4D.DDD viewers in

*ru#uay (9l 9spectador). 6hus these three films clearly provide and represent what Bapiola

identifies as the $continuity7 of the new national production that is a little #reater presence of

national cinema on the screens.

Another critical reason why I selected these films is that despite the differences between

them they have a very stron# connection with IN and NLAC. In this respect however theircinematic sub3ect is not only the worin# class but also the urban bour#eoisie and mar#inal

people. 6his maes a trio in which most of *ru#uay&s people are represented.

In addition and most importantly these three films show -each of them by its way- the

particularities of $pa1s peti"o7 as we will see.

Analysis of !e fil"s

Kespite bein# deeply influenced by IN contemporary *ru#uayan realist movies are very distant

from the Italian movement. 6hat distance is both diachronic and synchronous: synchronous

because while IN was born in 9urope in the contet of an American-9urocentric world

*ru#uayan cinema is made in the periphery of the Latin American periphery also in the contet

of an American-9urocentric world. In diachronic terms IN was born in the be#innin#s of the

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Cold Far while contemporary *ru#uayan films were made lon# after the fall of the !erlin Fall.

6he #eo-political realities and the $ideolo#ical times7 are very different. In our attempt to analy"e

contemporary *ru#uayan realist cinema influenced by IN sometimes it is more accurate to

establish a dialo#ue with the NLAC. Fe could say that IN influence on contemporary *ru#uayanmovies is usually mediated by the NLAC.

6his bein# made clear let&s move forward. *ru#uay is a country that was curiously called

$South America&s Swit"erland7. 6his is because of its supposed relatively better social conditions

in comparison with other countries of the continent. Some historians have made an effort to

demystify this idea however the intellectual establishment built the concept of the $*ru#uayan

eceptionality70 and most of the society continued to perceive itself as the $South America&s

Swit"erland7. Notwithstandin# that *ru#uay has #radually lost almost all of those conditionsand in a lesser etent some of its auto-perceptions since the end of the Second Forld Far the

last international event that #ave the country the opportunity to accumulate wealth throu#h

massive meat eports.4

6his lon# and #radual process of de#radation accelerated in the last two decades of the

twentieth century with the application of the neoliberal economic model. Its conse@uences were

an increase in unemployment $infantili"ation7 of poorness and a rise in the number of

*ru#uayan people livin# in critical conditions. In addition violence and crime rose especiallysince the second half of the /D&s/. Cantegriles(slums) have #rown eponentially especially in

the periphery of the capital 'ontevideo. $6he more uneven the wealth is distributed the more

the cantegriles#row in number and in population7,D.'oreover the precarious conditions of life

within the cantegrileshave worsened in the last years (idem).

Italian Neorealism came after the bi# crisis of the FFII and it dealt with the hard livin#

conditions of the Italian population. Bavattini claimed that Italian cinema had to be a reflection of

the Italian people and not only to show but also to analy"e and portray the $reality7,,

. 6hus INmade an effort to epose the sufferin# of the people in a time of crisis and its main directors

(8osellini Ke Sica Hisconti) wanted to tri##er a chan#e in society throu#h their films. In

See as an eample Kemasi (DD).0=re#a Chap. ,D.48ui" (DD0)/Departamento de istoria del !ruguay(DD0: ?4),D>orrini !eracochea (DD0: 0E),,Bavattini (idem: 40)

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*ru#uay we can see that there is an $incompatibility7 between the historic moment and the

cinematic times. 6he country indeed saw worsenin# conditions in the fifties and sities and then

+andler and *live&s movies appeared. 6hey sou#ht the same as IN directors and other Latin

American filmmaers: $to insert themselves into the social and political spheres they consciouslyassumed their role as initiators of chan#e7,.!ut the social situation in *ru#uay was much more

critical D years later however we don&t see that ind of attitude in contemporary filmmaers ,?.

FhyM 6here are many reasons.

$After the euphoric& period of 6hird Forld cinema Oof which the NLAC was partP the

early manifestoes were criti@ued positions were modified and updated while cinematic prais

evolved in myriad directions7 say Shohat and Stam,. In fact many contemporary directors are

critical of the NLAC filmmaers& attitude. Fhen ased if they would do $more compromisedcinema7 8ebella answered:

The compromised cinema, especially the "atin #merican one, usually is pamphleteering. $n general, this

bothers to my generation% we are tired of all the movies being about the dictatorship. $ am against

dictatorship and $ am a leftist& but as it bothers me that in 'duardo *aleano there is first the message

and then the narrative issue, the +compromised cinema bothers me. $t is a cinema that tries to affect

emotions linked to a historical context, which is a cheap trick to arrive to an emotion that the istory

does not have for itself. Thats the "atin #merican cinema for export, helped by uropean institutions

that try to clean their guilt of - years of coloni/ation. (!lanco ?)

And his friend Stoll answered: $'y compromise is with cinema OQP 6o send messa#es I

use the mail7,E. (6his last sentence refers to a @uote that 'ellen attributes to +emin#way: $If

you&ve #ot a messa#e send a tele#ram).,

Shohat and Stam add more reasons

# combination of $01 pressure, cooptation, and 2low3intensity warfare4 obliged even socialist regimes to

collaborate with transnational capitalism. 5ome regimes grew repressive toward those who wanted to go

beyond a purely nationalist revolution to restructure class, gender, region, and ethnic relations. #s a resultof external pressures and internal self36uestioning, the cinema too gave expression to these mutations, as

the anti3colonial thrust of earlier films gradually gave way to more diversified themes. This is not to say

that artists and intellectuals became less political, only that cultural and political criti6ue took new and

,>ic (,//0: ?D?),?Fith the relative eception of +andler&s $Aparte7.,Shohat R Stam (,//: /),E!lanco (DD: ?),'ellen (,/0E: 0)

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different forms. OQPthe films of the 789s and 788s use the camera less as a revolutionary weapon than

as a monitor of the gendered and sexuali/ed realms of the personal and the domestic, seen as integral but

repressed aspects of collective history. The 2post3Third :orldist4 films of the 789s and 788s display a

certain skepticism toward meta3narratives of liberation, but do not necessarily abandon the notion that

emancipation is worth fighting for4,0

I thin 8ebella and Stoll and partially Shohat and Stam answer the @uestion ased above.

6he analy"ed movies in this paper tae IN and NLAC influences but they are modernist films.

6hey $display a certain septicism toward meta-narratives of liberation but do not necessarily

abandon the notion that emancipation is worth fi#htin# for7. So where do we see their similarities

and differences with IN and NLACM !esides the obvious connection of $6he >ope&sQ7 with

$!icycle 6hieves7 on the bycicle issue we can reco#ni"e many elements of what Bavattini claims

to be IN on these films:

Low bud#et

Location settin#s. 9specially in $Aparte7 and $6he >ope&s 6oilet7 where similarly to IN

films the landscape acts as another character. In $Aparte7 we see the omnipresence of the

#arba#e surroundin# the characters everywhere. In $6he >ope&sQ7 we see the reference

to the gauchospictorial tradition (E.DE) and the emptiness of the country as a metaphor

for the characters& economic scantiness. 6he poetic-realist scene of !eto and Halvulina&s

ridin# to !ra"il (.DE) shows the contradiction between the beauty and fertility of the

*ru#uayan and !ra"ilian countryside and the hard conditions they live in they must ride

,D daily ilometers to earn a wa#e.

Non professional actors. 6his happens only in $Aparte7 a documentary where the

characters are 3ust present (as Bavattini claimed /?) and in $6he >ope&sQ7 where most

of the actors are non professionals but locals.

$Small7 stories (as Chabrol claimed /-//) Natural li#ht (with eceptions in the three films)

=ilms that try to be a reflection of the country showin# $the other7 *ru#uay especially in

$Aparte7 and $6he >ope&sQ7.

,0Shohat and Stam (idem: 40)

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6he use of lon# shots and deep focus althou#h they are closer to the =rench school and

they use edition to obtain more modernist movies. An outstandin# lon# shot is the

g;n;ri6ueof $Fhisy7 - four minutes only cut by the names of the crew pla@ues.

Improvisation. =or $6he >ope&sQ7 Hir#inia ';nde" (Carmen) read the script one day

before the shootin# not to hi#hli#ht the non-professional actors (8an"ani). $Aparte7 has

no previous detailed script. $Fhisy7 is an opposite eception in this case since

everythin# loos hi#hly rehearsed.

+owever these films introduce elements that differ from IN and put them closer to the

=rench school (and in some cases with Ke Sica&s movies):

Individual heroes

Kramatic and melodramatic narratives (even in $Aparte7: see for eample Carina&s

letter-romance final scene)

6he use of cinematic apparatus to #enerate identification with the prota#onists lie point

of view and close-ups

>sycholo#ical penetration. 6hey are $turnin# away from the epic toward the chronicle a

record of a time in which no spectacular events occur but in which the etraordinary

nature of the everyday is allowed to surface OQP a shift $from eteriority& to

interiority&7,4. In $Aparte7 +andler shot Neno&s fellows in their cell (./) #ivin#

tracs of their thou#hts and feelin#s. In $Fhisy7 the reference to the inner life of the

characters is the very basic idea of the whole film. All the shots are shot with static

camera thus transmittin# the petrified situation of the characters. In $6he >ope&sQ7 an

eample can be found at the moment when !eto has his $#reat idea7 (/.ED) the camera

taes his point of view then portraits him in a close up and then the music be#ins.

ther means of epression tae an even lon#er distance from IN:

>sycholo#ical compleity of the characters. !oth $Aparte7 (D.?D) and $6he >ope&s7

(.EE) contain scenes of domestic violence. 6he films tae distance from the NLAC&s

romantic idea of the of the $#ood poor7. In $Fhisy7 the whole story is built on the

compleity of the inner worlds of the characters. 6he moment 2acobo shouts at the referee

,48ich (,//0: 4)

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(.E) is a moment of catharsis that as opposed to the rest of the film lets us see in an

eplicit way what happens inside him (in the rest of the movie we see the contained inner

world throu#h implicit #estures).

6he use of the means of epression that IN re3ects and the presence of $li#ht7 cinematic

refleivity:

In $6he >ope&sQ7 an important se@uence for this is when !eto dreams he is on a

motorbie (E?.D) the li#ht chan#es and the music plays. Another important se@uence is the

failure scene (,.E.D) when the color turns to almost blac and white and music plays all of

this tends to maimi"e the feelin#s of the viewer. =inally when !eto throws the bottle of wine at

the 6H (,.4.ED) in slow motion and special sound effects also wor to enhance the feelin#s of

the viewer. In this scene we also see a criti@ue of the media. It is not cinema it&s television but

we can see some ind of refleivity when we thin of the power of the audiovisual product to

influence people for #ood and for bad.

In $Fhisy7 we don&t see so many means of epression in the mis-en-scene as in $6he

>ope&sQ7 but we do see them in the development of the narrative. Fe see twice $cinema inside

cinema7 (,.,/ and /). !eyond describin# the personality of the characters this discusses the

function of cinema in society. 'arta the eploited worer #oes to the cinema after wor as a

means of escapism but as the story develops we see the $dreamer7 side of her personality

somethin# 2acobo and +erman lac. She needs to ima#ine a different reality while materialist

+erman and disenchanted 2acobo are uninterested in another reality. Above all the very insertion

of cinema inside the movie is an element that leads the spectator to be aware of the presence of

the medium to thin about his own position as a viewer and about cinema.

$Aparte7 may be the most interestin# case in hi#hli#htin# the presence of the cinema

apparatus. n the one side it is very loyal to NLAC theory which claims to mae documentaries

about the social realities in the Latin American countries and to use the camera as a weapon for

social chan#e. n the other hand +andler tries to remind us throu#hout the movie that we are

seein# a film. 6o epress this he frames the screen in a blac frame (,?.?0) in other shots he uses

a $fish eye7 lens to distort the ima#e (E.,) (in addition by enhancin# the presence of the camera

he #ives us the feelin# to be watchin# the characters throu#h a security camera as if they were in

prison) and he also uses slow motion (,.?0). In the latter scene we see +andler on screen

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shootin# with another camera. !ut the clima of refleivity comes when we see a scene shot by

=abiTn Carina&s boyfriend. In this scene +andler unifies his wish to literally #ive his characters

the possibility to tell their own stories by themselves and his wish to remind us of the presence of

the camera (Carina reminds =abiTn that he is wastin# the camera&s battery).

=rom my point of view the main #ap between $pure7 neo-realism (especially that of the

NLAC) and what these films do is in the fact that these movies by usin# refleivity and

renouncin# to the $rudeness7 of the Italian neorealist camera limit their own function in society.

6hey seem to say us $althou#h we show a hard reality we do not intend to chan#e it7. 6he

cameras are #uns no more.

6his shows the #eneral chan#es Shohat and Stam hi#hli#ht. Also at a certain point it

reflects $a slow process where stylistic and narrative principles of neorealism were #radually

emptied of their social contents to become mere surface effects ready to absorb and epress

different intellectual contets other than the political7,/

In addition it also reflects a specific reality in *ru#uayan cinema and in *ru#uayan

society and this is the point I would lie to hi#hli#ht on the particularity of contemporary

*ru#uayan movies. IN and NLAC were based on national industries (production and

distribution) and aspired to accomplish the specificity of the cinema medium as a mass media that

#ets to the people they wanted to con@uer the mainstream and in many cases they indeed

succeeded. Since a national cinema industry does not eist in *ru#uay its chances to reach the

bi# public are slim that means that the chances of ideolo#ical influence on the masses are also

very lowD. As in other 6hird Forld countries, +ollywood and the 9uropean cinema industry

are still dominant in *ru#uay.A sense of impotence #enerated as a result of this situation (the

obli#ation to mae $small7 films for small audiences in the periphery) is epressed in the

analy"ed films. Fhen !eto throws a wine bottle at the 6H (an already commented scene of $6he

>ope&sQ7) he is not only main# catharsis but could also be seen as a metaphor for theimpotence a#ainst the he#emonic mass media that is impotence a#ainst +ollywood and

9uropean cinema.

,/!Tlint ovTsc (idem: EE)DI am i#norin# now the debates and critics from the Cultural Studies about the possibility of $ideolo#ical

penetration7 of the mass media. I am focusin# on the IN and NLAC mentality.,Shohat and Stam (idem: E)Chanan (,//0: ,/)

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Another way of epression of this impotence is +andler&s avoidance to insert a voiceover

in $Aparte7 differin# from =ernando !irri&s $6ire di;7 (,/D) and =ernando Solanas&s $'emoria

del sa@ueo7 (DD). !oth films are very similar to $Aparte7 in their intentions to describe poverty

and mar#inality (especially $6ire di;7) but they have peda#o#ic intentions that $Aparte7 lacs.6his vacuum of peda#o#ical intentions reveals an esthetic and a moral decision (to #ive the

characters the voice usually society denies them) but it also epresses an intention to limit the

intentions of the film as eampled before.

$Fhisy7 presents more difficulties in findin# a filmic epression of impotence a#ainst

the he#emony however that sensation is in the spirit of the movie and it is particularly felt in

'arta&s wishes and her acnowled#e of a disappointin# reality in which power abuses her. =or

eample when 2acobo ass her accompanyin# him (,,.ED) he $hides7 behind the wall$surprisin#7 'arta on her bac. +e stays in the dar side while 'arta stays in the li#ht side and

this mis-en-scene emphasi"es his obscure intentions (abuse of power) and her vulnerability and

the impossibility for her to say $no7 on the other hand. 'arta&s oppressed and repressed self

epression returns a#ain and a#ain throu#hout the movie when she tries to say somethin# to

2acobo he does not pay attention to her or he chan#es the sub3ect when she lau#hs at a 3oe

+erman made 2acobo implicitly mutes her (0.?E).

6his does not mean that the directors eplicitly wanted to discuss impotence and itsconnection to the lac of a national cinema industry however impotence is present in their films.

Impotence and resi#nation are main characteristics in *ru#uayan culture and they are also

epressed throu#h its cinema.

*ru#uay is a very small country with 3ust three million people situated between the two

bi##est countries in South America: Ar#entina and !ra"il. Kue to *ru#uay&s distance from the

9uro-centric center and its $confinement7 between the two re#ional powers it has developed a

special culture. I refer to what AchJ#ar defines as $pa1s peti"o7 a concept that helps us to eplainthis aspect of impotence and resi#nation revealed in the analy"ed movies. $>a1s peti"o7 is a state

of mind a mentality?. It means that it is not 3ust a small country but a country that sees itself as

destined to be insi#nificant and that vision desi#ns its internal culture:

'... , the poet

?AchJ#ar (idem: ,4)

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and philosopher milio ope&sQ7 after he #ets drun and all his fellow villa#ers reali"e it (0.EE).

6he mediocracy model also shows an industrialist lie 2acobo ($Fhisy7) sun in his

routine and totally uninterested in the very basic ambition of every capitalist to moderni"e his

tools of production in order to earn more money. 2acobo factory&s decadence wors as a

metonymy of the decadence of *ru#uayan society where everythin# wors with the minimum

conditions and in the lowest possible intensity.A society that doesn&t want to move bacwards

but also and mainly doesn&t want to move forwards. In the words of the +istorian Caetano there

is an $inte#rator ima#inary7 that claims $the reformist way that superimposes itself over the

antinomy conservation-revolution7 (Cateano 4). It is an $ima#inary7 of social inte#ration that

$Aparte&s7 characters brea ($Aparte7 means $aside7) thus #eneratin# a bi# controversy in a

society that didn&t want to see its worst conse@uences0.

$bdem,p.?E$bdem p.DFe could also tae the conditions of his factory as a metaphor of the state of the national cinema: an artisanalcinema that re3ects #oin# to an industrial model. Stoll one of the directors of Fhisy says: $6he idea is to live fromcinema but the day I can&t I&ll do advertisin# and other thin#s and I will do cinema when I can7 (!lanco ?).0+andler was hardly critici"ed in the media for shootin# and showin# minors in prison thus $sti#mati"in#7 them.=or this reason he was called by the 3ustice but freed. +e was critici"ed also for #ivin# money to the children whoused it for buyin# many thin#s includin# dru#s. =or the scene of the child cuttin# his own arm the child demandedmoney from +andler and after a few tries not to accept he finally accepted the deal. +owever no one said that whatwas seen in the screen was untrue (andabarat).

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As in IN the analy"ed films are pessimistic. +owever their pessimism does not lead to

the push for chan#e. Fhen IN was born its +istory played out in 9urope as demonstrated by the

recent FFII. *ru#uayans see themselves as citi"ens of a country in the mar#in of +istory. In the

films we can see the epression of the impotence of showin# somethin# without the hope ofchan#in# anythin#. As said before by refleivity *ru#uayan filmmaers mae eplicit this lac

of ambitions and this feelin# of impossibility for chan#e. In AchJ#ar&s eplanation of this

hopelessness we can find the difference between Italian pessimism and *ru#uayan pessimism:

$6he point here is not a tra#ic or operatic& hopelessness but a #rey mediocre of middle class

hopelessness which does not emer#e from a catastrophe but from the wear that the economic

crisis the dictatorship and the lac of a dynamic pro3ect have produced in the dreams of the

avera#e citi"en74.

I see !eto as a modern Sisyphus. In symbolic terms he won&t die but he will pay a hi#h

price for his willin#ness to pro#ress and to be different somethin# viewed as eotic and

dan#erous in *ru#uayan society. +e and *ru#uayan society- do not earn the ri#ht tobe $the

privile#ed Asiatic periphery of the world7 /nor a place where you can see typical South

American tra#edies. In $Cidade de Keus7 for eample or in the last movies of >ino Solanas the

viewer can see the oppressed people playin# everythin# or nothin# they win the $privile#e7 to

live or die (mostly die). $6he >ope&sQ7 however epresses the lon# a#ony of *ru#uayan

society and its individuals a sufferin# that does not have relief even in death.

6his fact is also clear in $Fhisy7 where the static camera emphasi"es the sta#nation of

*ru#uay. If IN was a movement related to +istory these *ru#uayan films seem to be $above7

+istory or $aside7 +istory no matter what happens we will remain unchan#ed. 9ven $Aparte7

which shows a relatively new phenomenon in *ru#uayan society (the epansion of mar#inal

life) shows it from the perspective of what social researchers call an $endemic problem7 of the

country with no possibility for revolutionary redemption. As said before +andler renounces to

peda#o#ical ambitions.

4 AchJ#ar$bdem p./$bdem,p.?

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Con#l$sions

6hrou#h the analysis of these three movies I have tried to show how IN has influenced

*ru#uayan contemporary cinema and how *ru#uayan filmmaers use the neorealistic tools to

epress some particularities of *ru#uayan culture. 6hey do it both throu#h affirmation of those

tools and throu#h re3ection.

As seen some thin#s that could be $specificities7 are part of more #eneral situations. 8e-

use of neorealism started in 9urope immediately after the $fall7 of the movement as

demonstrated by !Tlint-ovTsc. 6he new filmmaers brou#ht their needs and the needs of their

societies and then neorealism too new forms new meanin#s and new tar#ets. In Latin America

post-NLAC also assumed the tas of tain# the old NLAC and to mae somethin# new of it. 6he

chan#es in the world and in the Latin American societies are epressed throu#h these new means

of epression. 6here are new sub3ects new narratives and new uses of the mis-en-scene

redefinition of tar#ets and strate#ies and above all redefinition of the roll of the cinema in

society. In the analy"ed movies cinema cannot show us more than a situation. 6he camera is a

#un no more. 6his doesn&t mean that the social situation is better than in the sities (in many

cases it is even worse) but international chan#es and the shoc of dictatorships seem to have had

effects. Fe cannot tal about a $militant cinema7 in terms of the NLAC theorists but rather of a

cinema that eposes a situation and stops there. 6o some etent I a#ree with 8ebella that it iscinema $for eport7.

*ru#uay is part of these #eneral chan#es. It shares with other Latin American movies the

ind of influence of IN of the present day. $'ainstream7 cinema tools are used and IN avoidance

of cinematic transformations is not present almost anymore. 6his is somethin# that Shohat and

Stam discuss and we can see in 'eirelles& films and Solanas& last films. f course this happens in

the analy"ed films too as seen in the development chapter.

+owever these *ru#uayan films have also their particular side. It is my impression andI have tried to demonstrate it in the analysis- that they succeed in epressin# the interestin# point

of the $pa1s peti"o7. 6hese feelin#s of impotence inferiority #rey routine tan#o-lie melancholy

and lac of hope are epressed in the films. AchJ#ar demanded a consideration of the model of

Adrian Singer4


14/17

$dwarf country7 in its cultural production both in its industrial aspect and in its symbolic one?D. I

have tried to respond to AchJ#ar&s claim and I have tried to contribute a little bit to this thou#ht.

6hese feelin#s of $dwarf7 to#ether with the chan#es indicated by Shohat and Stam have

influenced the means of epression of the cinema. As opposed to IN *ru#uayan filmmaers do

not try to avoid or eliminate the transformations of the medium. 6hese transformations are not

always hidden and in some cases they are even hi#hli#hted. As said before *ru#uayan

filmmaers do not see to chan#e society throu#h their films but they limit their intentions. Kid

the movies of the NLAC chan#e social reality in Latin America as NLAC filmmaers had

hopedM 6he reality of the continent su##ests that the answer is $no7 and that answer is true for

*ru#uay as well. Certainly the camera is not a #un as effective as directors thou#ht in the sities.

Now the @uestion they as is what is the function of cinema in the new Latin American realityMIn *ru#uay an impoverished tiny peripheral and border country bounded by the two re#ional

powers what is the function of cinema todayM

?D$bdem,p.,D

Adrian Singer/


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%i&liogra'!y

AC+U5A8 +u#o."a balsa de la medusa% ensayos sobre identidad, cultura y fin de siglo en

!ruguay. 'ontevideo: 6rilce ,//.

!VLIN6 HVCS AndrTs. 5creening 0odernism% uropean #rt Cinema, 78-3789. Chica#o:

Chica#o * > DD0.

!LANC Vn#eles. $9l efecto Fhisy7. l EaFs Cultural. Wear ,E vol. 00. September ,0

DD.

CA96AN 5erardo. $Identidad nacional e ima#inario colectivo en *ru#uay. La s1ntesis

perdurable del centenario7. >p 0E-/. In: AchJ#ar +u#o and 5erardo Caetano (eds.). $dentidad

uruguaya% Gmito, crisis o afirmaciHnI'ontevideo: 6rilce ,//.

C+A!8L Claude. X+a-nosYim ha-tanimX. In 5899N 9itan.Aamaim ve3anshei kolnoah al

kolnoah. Am ved ,/4E (in +ebrew).

C+ANAN 'ichael. 6he 9conomic Condition of Cinema in Latin America. >p ,4E-DD. In:

'artin 'ichael 6. (9d.). Jew "atin #merican Cinema. Kol. 7% Theory, Eractices, and

Transcontinental #rticulations. Ketroit: Fayne State * > ,//0.

Control B =ilms: Kistribuci%n.http:ZZwww.control"films.comZpa#inasZdistribucion.htm

K9'ASI Carlos. "a lucha por el pasado. istoria y naciHn en !ruguay (,/D-,/?D).

'ontevideo: 6rilce. DD.

Kepartamento de +istoria del *ru#uay. $La crisis de la democracia neoliberal y la opci%n por la

i"@uierda. ,/4E-DDE. >p ,,-ED. In: =re#a Ana and others.istoria del !ruguay en el siglo

LL '7983-. 'ontevideo: !anda riental DD0.

$Kirector de 9l !a[o del >apa prepara $9nanas blancas&7.l spectadorradio website. *ru#uay:

2anuary ,st DD4. \http:ZZwww.espectador.com.uyZ,v]contenido.phpMid^,,ERsts^,_K&L*5 'arvin. $Authorship #lobali"ation and the new identity of Latin American cinema:

from the 'eican ranchera& to Ar#entinian eile&7. >p,D?-,E. In: 5uneratne Anthony and

Fimal Kissanayae.Bethinking Third Cinema. New Wor: 8outled#e DD?.

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9LSA9SS98 6homas. $=ilm =estival Networs: 6he New 6opo#raphies of Cinema in 9urope7.

>p- 4-,D0. In: 9lsaesser 6homas.uropean cinema% face to face with ollywood. Amsterdam:

Amsterdam * > DDE.

+ANKL98 'ario. $Startin# from Scratch: Artisanship and A#itprop7. >p ,?-?. In: !urton

2ulianne: Cinema and 5ocial Change in "atin #merica% Conversations :ith 1ilmmakers. Austin:

* of 6eas > ,/4.

ISLAS Ariadna R =895A Ana. $Identidades uru#uayas: del mito de la sociedad homo#;nea al

reconocimiento de la pluralidad7. >p-?E/-?/. In: =re#a Ana and others.istoria del !ruguay

en el siglo LL '7983-. 'ontevideo: !anda riental DD0.

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cine uru#uayo7. In: \http:ZZwww.cinemateca.or#.uyZ>K=ZLaDhistoriaDnoDoficial

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'9LL9N 2oan. $=ilm and Style: 6he =ictional Kocumentary7. >p 0-/. In: !radford !urns 9

(ed.). Latin American Cinema: =ilm and +istory. Los An#eles: * of California ,/0E.

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8*IB 9sther. $9l *ru#uay pr%spero& y su crisis. ,/-,/7. >p ,?-,. In: =re#a Ana and

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BAHA66INI Cesare. X6e"ot al ha-neoreali"mX. In 0akhbarot le3Molnoah 'arch ,/E (in

+ebrew).

Adrian SingerE

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