Bus 174

        “And I thought that we are so screwed in this country that the only option left to us in the end is thanking the thieves.” This quote from Alberto Ramos in, The Drive-by Victim, ironically shows how chaotic the criminal justice system is in South America; more specifically in the highly populated cities.

        Bus 174 tells the story of Sandro Rosa do Nascimento, a man from Rio de Janerio. In his early life, he witnessed his mother’s murder and was forced to a life on the streets. As a deserted youth, he ended up in jail and eventually found a family at Candelaria; an old historic church in Rio de Janerio. There Sandro created friendships and was able to survive. However, on July 23, 1993, the Brazilian police shot on Sandro and his friends, allegedly killing eight and wounding more. He cites that this massacre was his reason for taking hostages on Bus 174.

       From previous movies and readings, South American countries are becoming urbanized and governments do not have enough resources to safely protect its citizens. Thieves can continually rob and live well enough to continue and forgo searching for a real job. The police force is undermanned and underfunded. Bus 174 documents jail life in Rio, showing an overcrowded cell with inmates who are undernourished. One man stated that he was from another country and had been in jail eight months past his release date; he exclaimed, “I’d rather be dead than in this jail.” Leaders in the government are hoping to establish “modernity” through out South America. President Carlos Salinas de Gortari signed the North American Free Trade Agreement which opened up better trade relations between the United States, Mexico, and Canada. Several local Mexicans view this transition to modernity negatively because of Mexico’s unique history with out the nuances other advanced countries benefited from. However modernization is a necessity for progress, otherwise actions like Sandros will continue to occur. Through T.V. coverage, Sandros was able to bring light to his situation. Through movies like Bus 174, more people have been immersed in the problems South America is facing today.

        I believe they are moving in the right direction. Mexico’s subway is now one of the longest urban railways in the world. Citizens are able to commute to their place of work more efficiently, and fewer workers will have to travel through the city. In 2014 Brazil will host the FIFA World Cup, which will boost the economy tremendously. Two years after, Rio de Janiero will host the Olympics. These events will force the government to clean up the streets of the cities, improve hotels, and increase funding to the police force, which will in turn improve the quality of life in South America.

Cidade de Deus

          The City of God introduces its audience into the world of crime in Ghettos in Brazil. Commonly called Favelas, these poor shantytowns are spread through out the suburbs around Rio de Janeiro. From 1940 to 1969, Rio experienced an increase in urbanization and population in the city and surrounding areas. Up until 1947, the most common area of work in Brazil was a Lavrador, or farm hand. Many of these farm hands were former slaves who lived on plantations. However due to a lack in the advancement in mechanization technology and an increase in labor intensive health issues; the production of rice, sugarcane, and oranges decreased by almost one-half. Thus many workers were forced to immigrate to the city and the surrounding areas for any work that they could find. This immigration led to the expanses of poor ghettos, and here we find the subject of Cidade de Deus.

            In the beginning of the movie we are introduced to a famous local trio who rob local business to support themselves, friends, and family. Crime in the Favelas increased due to population growth and a consistent lack of steady jobs. According to Julio César Pino in his article, “Labor in the Favelas of Rio de Janeiro, 1940-1969”, the population in the ghetto can be split into three distinct elements. First is the proletariat: who were citizens holding stable employment with steady wages, most likely living around the city before mass migration. Secondly, the subproletarians: who worked short-term jobs with out contracts, steady wages, and job security. And lastly, the majority of the ghetto consisted of the unemployed. This distinction in class led to violence, forcing youth to lead a life of crime and drug trafficking. The main character Rocket lived in a family that would be classified as subproletarians. His father didn’t have a steady job, but made a living selling fish in the Favelas. Rocket doesn’t want to carry on his father’s profession but dreams of becoming a photographer. His brother is a member in the crime trio, who becomes a hero to young rocket and his friends, and becomes a model for continuing crime in the Favelas. Eventually the youth become old enough to think and kill for themselves and a new generation of crime lords is formed. We see this trend with the rise and fall of Li’l Zé; to the creation of a gang of “runts” who decide it is their turn to run the ghetto and regulate drug trade. This never ending cycle of killing continues with out a better future of work and school in the City of God. Rocket is able to find a career, but the majority of youth will continue to be trapped in a life of crime.

Che, Part 1

              Ernesto Guevara has been the focus of our class for the last two weeks. We have seen his character grow from a youthful traveler to a radical revolutionary. Some of his character transition can be attributed to worldly issues occurring at the time. After the Second World War, South America’s economic and political identity became more defined. Due to an increase in guaranteed foreign trade, Mexico and the rest of South America gained much needed revenue increase. President of Mexico, Miguel Alemán was committed to capitalistic expansion and creating closer ties with the United States. Along with Mexico, Guatemala and Argentina experienced an increase in foreign capital investment. However, with an increase in capital comes an increase in greed, and an ensuing war broke out through out South America.

            There is a time gap between the Ernesto Guevara we see in Motorcycle Diaries and the man we see in Che. According to Jorge Castańeda who wrote a biography of Che, he states that Guevara was a “wandering photographer, underpaid medical researcher, a man in permanent exile, and an insignificant husband.” His time away from his family in Mexico was the final staging in creating the revolutionary duo of “Che and Fidel”, a team that would forever reshape the political identity of South America. 

            The movie Che introduces Guevara in his intense recruiting and training of his soldiers in guerrilla warfare. He is portrayed as a strong and pragmatic leader. His revolutionaries are completely under his command, they must adhere to his policies or they are ordered to return home or be executed. Guevara is a military genius in this type of warfare. In his, Guerrilla warfare: A method, he explains the guerrilla is the vanguard of the people, and for them to be successful they must have the support of the local peasants and workers. In the movie, three guerrillas wander away from Che’s group and harass a local family. Once they are found they are executed as examples to the rest of the soldiers; this sort of action is not tolerated under Guevara’s rule. From these examples, Che is able to maintain discipline in his regimes allowing his soldiers to function as a whole and under the command of their leader Che Guevara.

            The end of the movie we see victory for Che and the revolutionaries. In the victory scene a guerrilla asks Che what they are suppose to do now, and Che says they will make their way to Havana a city that until then they could not control. With Fidel Castro in power, they worked to create a better sense of social nationalism for Cuba. The revolution’s success is rightfully credited to Ernesto Guevara, and until his execution by Bolivian soldiers, he was the image of revolution and a more prosperous future to the many youth in South America.    

Motorcycle Diaries

             Che Guevara is seen as a revolutionary image in South America for his radical views for a new equal society across the continent. Although his parents were from established families; his adolescence was full of travelling due to his dad’s lack of a steady job. A lack of a central home allowed Che to grow a personality of that of an explorer; one who looked to defy conventional thoughts and to look for new ideas in the world. In the Motorcycle Diaries, Che teams up with a companion Alberto Granado on a journey to discover what South American culture, women, and landscape was all about. A twenty-two year old Che experienced exploration in his teens, and was also well educated due to his interest in reading. Leaving just before his entrance into medical school, Che was ready to discover South America for himself, in hopes of finding the truth behind the land.

            During the mid 1930’s through the 1960’s, South America had a vast amount of tourism both domestic and from visiting foreign tourists. The Peronistera in Argentina (nation’s largest political force) hoped to improve the nation’s domestic economy by increasing paid vacations for regular labor workers. Argentina along with Peru experienced mass migration from rural to urban areas. The metropolitan region of Buenos Aires saw an increase from 8,000 to over 115,000 migrants to the city. Peru had an increase from 35% to 50% population in urban areas by the 1960’s (Elena, 28. Drinot, 109). Che’s family is included in the number of migrants who moved into Buenos Aires; a move that would create interest for Che to explore areas of the continent that he hadn’t seen.

            Che was described by Eduardo Elena as a “Social Investigator”. His interest in helping people grew as he continued in his study of medicine. On his trip with Granado, they stop at numerous clinics, hospitals, leprosariums, along with a famous doctor of leprosy. He wanted to go farther than anyone else would to discover people from different social backgrounds. Motorcycle Diaries creates an interesting parallel describing Che’s character. On his birthday, he has a great time celebrating with everyone at the clinic, but what he really wants is to spend his birthday with those suffering from leprosy on the island isolated across the river. Ignoring Granado’s advice, Che jumps in the moving river and swims across to the dismay of the rest of the nurses, nuns, doctors. He risks drowning along with potentially succumbing to other dangers living in the river. However, Che’s reliance along with motivational jeers from the sickly on the island, push Che to finish the swim. This scene in the movie shows Che’s revolutionary personality as one that could think contrary to the norm of society.

            Che’s interest in helping those in need led to many revolutions in South America. His strong image gave many citizens the courage to rebel and to believe in ideals Che Guevara created.

Soy Cuba

Soy Cuba is a film that depicts Cuba during a time of revolution and discovery of a national identity. There was a large national discourse reconciling race and nation, one that the colonial authorities viewed as an impossible feat to reconcile. In other words, leaders hoped to define Cuba as a single race under the title “Cuban”; increasing their compatibility with the rest of the world in foreign trade.

The expression Afro-Cubans was a defined national identity that needed to be specified. Soy Cuba introduces the multitude of races that were prevalent in the prerevolutionary Cuba. However, it must be stressed that blacks were able to accumulate jobs, status, and even political power allowing them to have a strong influence on the economy. Also, blacks were a factor in Cuba’s independence as much as the white population was. Afro-Cubans were given a choice to be categorized as black which served the colonialist purpose of portraying a nation as racially irreconcilable or to become members of an allegedly race-less nationalist force. There was to be no “Afro” or “Cuban” at the same time.

White leaders hoped to increase the number of white immigrants to boost their population proportion while decreasing the proportion of blacks. According to Alejandro de la Fuente in his article; Race, National Discourse, and Politics in Cuba, he explains the hopes of white leaders for the future of Cuba:

“There was optimism of certain whites who speculated that blacks' lower natural increase, combined with immigration, would guarantee their virtual extinction. They were all wrong. By the 1920s, whitening had failed, and it was increasingly evident that Cuba would never fulfill the elite's vision of a Caucasian paradise in the tropics.”

In Cuba’s constitution, all Cubans (no matter race), were equal under law. This equality allowed blacks to continue their place in society, adding creativity and value to society. Cuba’s economy during the beginning years of Castro regime was primarily based on foreign trade. Castro made it a priority that economic external relations were regulated while domestic economic development was heavily promoted. When defining a single Cuban race, historians begin to with the relationship between white and blacks during slavery in Cuba. Fuente concludes that the relationship between white owners and black slaves was relatively “soft” compared to other slavery relations in the world. As Cuba continues to grow in the worldly economics spectrum, their political representation from blacks and women should continue to grow, giving them a more balanced and compatible economy to have relations with.        

Que Viva Mexico (1931/1979)

Sergei Eisenstein wanted to capture the great culture and society that was Mexico in the early 1930’s. Que Viva Mexico is a series of short films that introduce many unique aspects of Mexico’s history.

In the prologue, Eisenstein shows the Mayan pyramids and the stone faces of their ancient gods. This opening film shows an important aspect of Latin American nationalism and religion. They believed in a connection between the living and the dead. The first film continues to show a funeral of an old Mayan man. In ceremony the deceased is carried to the pyramid by three women and three men. The dead is being carried into the afterlife where his soul will continue to live.     

The next film is about a young woman who is looking to marry. Eisenstein transitions from death to the beginning of life at marriage. This film is very aesthetically pleasing and romantic. The young men are babied by their mothers until they are old enough for marriage, while the girls must complete a gold necklace to complete their dowry. This film shows Mexico as a peaceful civilization, a fact that is negated in the following films.

“Fiesta” is a portrayal of a great bull fight. The fight ends with the bullfighter killing the bull with a sword. The audience is overjoyed from the outcome of the fight proving the power that humans held over animals.

The next film tells the story of Sebastian, who plans a vengeful attack against a landlord. Sebastian, with the help of three of his friends, steals weapons and ammo from the landlord and began firing on them in an attempt to rescue his girlfriend Maria. However their attempt is futile against the horseback soldiers of the landlord. Sebastian and his friends are buried in the ground up to their shoulders and are trampled by horses. The story of Sebastian is a sad one but for many powerless Mexicans their fate was decided by a powerful landlord and his army.

The film is then cut in by Grigori Aleksandrov, a camera man in Eisenstein’s crew, to tell us that this section of the film was to be called “Soldadera”, describing the women during the revolution that followed the soldiers and cared for them. Unfortunately Eisenstein and company ran out of money and had to return to Russia before finishing the movie, thus we will never know how this section of the movie would have been under Eisenstein's direction.

The last scene describes the Day of the Dead; a festival where the dead are mocked. Children are given sugar skulls to eat and many dress up in skull masks. At the end of the festival many of the masks are removed and we see young children and skulls of dead humans, many are dressed as the elite in society: military uniforms, big hats, and expensive coats. This society wants their children’s future to be a more peaceful than the revolutionary times that their parents grew up in.

Gabriela

The film Gabriela tells the story of a young woman who abandons her home and finds herself in Brazil. A bar owner named Mr. Nacib is out looking for a new cook and stumbles upon Gabriela. She becomes his house maid and chef. Before too long the two find themselves in a hot sexual relationship. Gabriela is a great chef and lover to Mr. Nacib. Before too long the rest of the town discovers how beautiful and tempting Gabriela is and she loves the extra attention.

In an attempt to keep Gabriela to himself; Mr. Nacib makes her his wife. She is satisfied with her life and wants nothing extra from Mr. Nacib. However overtime their relationship loses its fire and Gabriela begins to secretly sleep with other men in the town. We are also introduced to other women in the town, who are as equally faithless to their men. In Susan Besse’s article CRIMES OF PASSION: THE CAMPAIGN AGAINST WIFE KILLING IN BRAZIL, 1910-1940, she states that “a married man who discovered his wife in the act of committing adultery had the legal right to kill both her and her suitor, and the social custom of doing so did not die with the formal abrogation of this right (653).” In this society a man was a cuckhold if he didn’t fulfill his right to kill his wife and her suitor.

So this leads me to think what is worse: killing or adultery? The law leads me to believe that adultery is no worse than murder. However if I put myself in that situation I don’t think I could end two peoples lives over cheating.

Gabriela continues her adultery and we see the inevitability that Mr. Nacib will catch her in the act. When he does; he pulls out his pistol, enraged and points it at both Gabriela and her suitor. At this point he has the legal right to end both their lives, but he can’t bring himself to do it and kicks both of them out of his house, telling Gabriela that he doesn’t want to see her face ever again.    

Mr. Nacib begins to look for a new wife. But he struggles to find anyone like the woman Gabriela was to him. As the movie comes to an end, Gabriela presents herself to Mr. Nacib at his house. He can’t resist and the movie ends with the two in bed again.

I was a disappointed in the way the movie ended. I would have liked to see Mr. Nacib with a new women but Gabriela was too tempting for him. I couldn’t believe how many women were unfaithful to their husbands through out the movie. In a society where adultery was so common, finding a true woman to be yours must have been very refreshing for those who did.