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.  

La última cena

The Last Supper is based on a slaveholder who believes he can humble himself by reenacting Jesus’ last supper. Count de Casa Bayona owns a growing sugar mill that is overseen by a ruthless Mexican by the name of Don Manuel. Along with a host of other working associates, and a priest; the mill is run predominantly by slave power. The count believes that slaves were put on the earth to work and must serve their master to reach heaven. He feels poorly that the slaves are beaten unmercifully by overseer Manuel, but refuses to interfere with him because of the work that the slaves are completing.

Instead he decides to host a version of Jesus’ last supper. He has Manuel select twelve different slaves. Next he washes and kisses the feet of the slaves and then invites them to sit with him for a grand meal. Moreover, Count Bayona hosts this meal during Holy Week. The count believes the meal goes well. A slave named Sebastian, who was recently de-eared for trying to escape, tells a story of Truth and Lies. He tries to convince the other slaves that their master is trying to influence them to be content with slavery at the mill. However, many slaves are loyal to the Count; they believe that he is a great owner for allowing them to eat at the same table as he. The scene of the last supper ends with Sebastian blowing some sort of powder into the counts face. Earlier in the movie some workers believe that he is magical. Could this be some magical powder or could it just be sugar powder?

As the next day begins, the count is told of some terrible news by his workers; the slaves have revolted. An attempt to warn the count by a few of his loyal slaves fails and the destruction of the mill commences. They take Manuel hostage and Sebastian guts him. Many of the slaves flee into the woods but are eventually cut down by the count’s workers who ride armed on horseback. The only remaining escaping slave is Sebastian. The movie ends with him running through the woods; we are to believe that he escaped.

  

This time period gives little primary documents, especially form the perspective of a slave. In chapter seven of Donald Steven’s, Based on a true story, Latin American history at the movies, he says Robert Rosenstone (film historian) argues that, “a film must engage, directly or obliquely, the issues, ideas, data, and arguments of the ongoing discourse of history” (114-115). Director Tomás Gutiérrez Alea
recreates the harshness of sugar cane production while also showing a slaves power of agency, i.e. Antonio’s dancing, the slave’s story telling, and their attempted escape. Viewing history through motion pictures give audiences a more personal experience; allowing them to engage with the actors.