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2
Melodrama and the
Emergence of Venezuelan Cinema
luisel a alvar ay
During the 1930s, there was a continent that was predisposed to and ready
to welcome a genre that would model and fulfill particular modes of percep-
tion and subjectivities. Radio waves became instrumental for transmitting
serial narratives such as radionovelas. First popularized in Cuba, radio
novelas were promptly imported by Venezuela, and soon thereafter domestic
adaptations with idiosyncratic singularities became popular nationwide.
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audiences flocked to the comedic melodrama, which was to open the way
for the success of the Mexican film industry. By 1938, Hollywood features
dropped to 45 percent of the Venezuelan market, which had been taken over
by Mexican and Argentine productions (Roffé 250). Five years later, fifty-
nine Mexican films were shown in Venezuela (Usabel 185). The esteem for
Latin American stars among Spanish-speaking audiences was at its height,
and Mexican literary adaptations, along with melodramas, musicals, and
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who came to the country to make movies and helped define the direction of
the national cinema.
to star in Venezuelan features. In that way, the “feel” of foreignness that charac-
terized productions made outside the country could be reproduced locally and
without difficulty. Stars who were imported for this purpose included Spanish
actor Carmen Rodríguez and Mexican performers Elena D’Orgaz, José Baviera,
and Miguel Arenas, who were cast together in René Borgia’s Noche inolvidable
(Unforgettable Night, 1941), a melodrama about a musician who twenty years
earlier had killed his wife. In that year they also performed in José Fernández’s
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presidency.4 The idea of the national in these two films was conflated with
that of the regional, creating a shared sense of community that had char-
acterized the Latin American continent since the movements that brought
independence from Europe.
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Tomás Henríquez and Virginia Luque in La balandra Isabel llegó esta tarde
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continue producing and promoting films in the country. It also left a legacy
of generic films, and melodramas in particular, whose production was use-
ful for building transnational alliances with some of the major industries
elsewhere on the continent. At the same time, Bolívar Films also naturalized
the melodramatic narrative as the standard form for cinematic language—a
situation that was challenged in the following decade by critics and theorists
of the revolutionary New Cinema of Latin American.
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Cinema of Auteurs
I liked cinema so much that I had several albums of newspaper clippings,
which I systematically collected—one of film critiques, another one of film
photographs and a very special third one dedicated to María Félix. Since
seeing her perform in Doña Bárbara, I was a slave to her beauty and her
arrogance.
—Román Chalbaud, “Apuntes de un Cineasta,” 1979
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A film lover and enthusiast of the Mexican golden age, Chalbaud partici-
pated in the attempt by Bolívar Films to industrialize Venezuelan filmmak-
ing. At a young age, he became assistant director to Mexican director Victor
Urruchúa for two features that he directed for the company. With the advent
of television, Chalbaud gained more experience and became a director in the
new medium. He initially directed television plays based on works of litera-
ture; later, he directed telenovelas. He was also heavily involved in the Caracas
theatrical world, where he staged his first plays, including the very successful
Caín adolescente (1955). Chalbaud’s decision to adapt the play for the screen
was understandable, but filming the movie was difficult. When the picture was
finished, the military government censored it because of its representations of
grinding poverty. It was shown only after the fall of the dictatorship in 1959.7
Although Caín has been praised for its content—it tries to grapple with
the reality of slums and the misery of peasants who migrate to the city—it in-
fuses this content with melodramatic elements. As Paulo Antonio Paranaguá
noted: “[Caín] includes many elements of the golden age of Mexican films:
melodramatic climaxes, bar and the cabaret locations, typical characters, ges-
tures and forms, and, above all, the young girl, who is seduced, abandoned,
and continuously rejected because of her loose morals” (165). The film also
includes aspects of Venezuelan customs and folklore that represent local
filmmakers’ continued desire for an autochthonous cinema. Although Caín
was criticized for its excessive theatricality (its sounds and images do seem
rather dated now), it was also admired for its originality. Amy Courvoisier,
a contemporary critic, was especially enthusiastic: “Caín adolescente is a
clear vision of what our cinema should be—not a blind imitation of foreign
productions. The author [Chalbaud] was inspired by different events that
we have witnessed ourselves and, from those, has constructed a realistic and
emotional film that is alive” (quoted in Tirado n.d.: 338).
Caín has been assessed as a transitional work that links tradition and inno-
vation in the search for a national imagery. And, certainly, elements of melo-
drama had a strong presence in that effort, as in the rest of Chalbaud’s oeuvre.
As Ambretta Marrosu points out: “Even if the melodramatic commotion of
under U.S. or applicable copyright law.
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During the 1960s and early 1970s, Chalbaud, like many other young film-
makers, continued to make films, but not without difficulty and, regrettably,
without official support. The first attempt to create a new law to protect the
national film output by guaranteeing screen space for local productions oc-
curred in 1967, but it was adamantly opposed by distributors and exhibitors,
who contended that it would hurt the film business and reduce the number
of films that played in the country (Tirado 1988: 123). But the persistence of
the new generation finally gave way to new governmental support for film-
making in Venezuela.
The media researcher Antonio Pasquali wrote in 1972: “The distributors’
shortsightedness, the producers’ lack of impetus and the state’s indiffer-
ence have resulted in thirty years in which two activities, the production
and distribution of films, have increased without ever being in contact with
one another” (quoted in Marrosu 1985: 29–30). He was stressing the lack of
coordination between the “nuts and bolts” of the industrial machine and
the need of institutional policies to create and consolidate a film industry
in Venezuela. Mexico had already passed a film law in 1951, and Brazil did
so in 1966. However, things were about to change for Venezuela.
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support and promote a national cinema. Until that time, only the advertising
industry had risked producing an individual film. One year later, in 1975, nine
features were financed by the government, and there was talk in the industry
and by critics of a New Venezuelan Cinema (Aguirre and Bisbal 21).
In 1980 critics Jesús Aguirre and Marcelino Bisbal identified ten thematic
categories, three of which—marginality, guerrilla warfare, and passionate
drama—were the most frequently revisited by filmmakers (141). Denuncia-
tion of social malaise and references to the political struggles of previous
decades were typical themes. The manner of their depiction was usually (but
not always) indebted to melodrama. As Carlos Rebolledo noted: “Venezuelan
cinema, with few exceptions, has tried to emulate the telenovela—a sure way
of securing the public—leaving aside the intensive and extensive complex-
ity of the country in order to use schematic dramatic forms which would
please a mass, paying public” (quoted in King 223). By this time, Chalbaud’s
influence in the cinematic world was even greater as a result of his success
with three consecutive films: La quema de Judas (1974), Sagrado y obsceno
(Sacred and Obscene, 1975), and El pez que fuma (The Smoking Fish, 1976).
Each of them presented a critical view of Venezuelan society, focusing on
such topics as corrupt economic and political practices, popular culture, the
values of marginalized people as opposed to the values of the bourgeoisie, and
the search for a national identity. All of his films had a strong melodramatic
component, which became part of his signature style.
Chalbaud has stated several times that many of his features were made
with the deliberate intention of paying tribute to Mexican films of the golden
age, in which songs formed part of the melodramatic pulse. His own love for
films as a teenager had caused him to admire many of the renowned works
of the period. He wrote: “At that time . . . I felt overwhelmed by the natural-
ism of Mexican cinema—a cinema close to the feuilleton, to dialogue and to
simplistic situations that were, nonetheless, a reflection of the Latino spirit”
(1979: 4). The film that most successfully conveys Chalbaud’s admiration for
Mexican cinema probably is El pez que fuma—a critically acclaimed feature
based on his 1968 play of the same title, which is evocative of melodramas
under U.S. or applicable copyright law.
made during the golden age. Like the Mexican cabaretera movies of the
1940s, the film is about a brothel called The Smoking Fish that comes alive
during the late-night hours and transforms its daytime workers into bril-
liant performers. They work for the torch singer La Garza (Hilda Vera), the
brothel’s self-made owner. An independent, powerful character, La Garza
is somewhat reminiscent of the Doña Bárbara archetype played by María
Félix. But the combination of compassion, motherly feelings, and a strong
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will that overwhelms and then abandons men at her convenience makes
La Garza a far more complex character. The Mexican composer and poet
Agustín Lara, whose musical scores enriched numerous golden-age features,
expressed sympathy for the prostitute in his songs, and that sympathy is
manifested in the treatment of La Garza in El pez que fuma. As Ana López
recalls, “Lara’s songs idealized woman as a purchasable receptacle for man’s
physical needs—the ultimate commodity for modern Mexican society—but
also invested her with the power of her sexuality: to sell at will, to name
her price, to choose her victim” (266). Both strong and sensitive, La Garza
embodies a new kind of empowered female subjectivity that, nonetheless,
is nullified in the end when she is accidentally shot by one of her lovers.
But El pez que fuma is also a story of power struggles that has been inter-
preted as an allegory of the nation. Corruption, lies, and exploitative eco-
nomic relationships determine how power changes hands in an inexorable
cycle. In Chalbaud’s words: “I painted a brothel . . . not because of the brothel
in itself, but because I believe that there is a kind of magic and cruelty there,
something terrible that seems very much like the society in which we live”
(quoted in Naranjo 68). Several men struggle to become La Garza’s macho
and boss, but it is ultimately La Garza who controls and determines every-
under U.S. or applicable copyright law.
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thing. Accompanying each turn of the plot are musical numbers. The lyrics of
classic boleros, tangos, and salsa tunes complement major events while being
reminiscent of and paying tribute to a certain era of cinematic history—not
only of the continent but also of the country. The song “Taboga,” which is
played a couple of times on the soundtrack, was the basis for a short musical
film in 1937 that was the first sound film made in Venezuela. With its popular
characters, music, and settings, as well as with its irony and humor, the film
expresses its maker’s interest in an autochthonous culture and indigenous na-
tional character. Chalbaud’s use of “Taboga” along with other popular songs
was critical to the film’s success and essential to what critic Alvaro Naranjo
described as his “great melodramatic vision of national life” (71).8
From 1975 onward, Venezuelan cinema proved for the first time that it
could be a profitable business. Its critical and box-office success convinced
the government of the commercial potential of local filmmaking, and sev-
eral official institutions responded by giving credits and loans to filmmakers,
who, by then, had become their own producers. Names such as Román Chal-
baud, Mauricio Walerstein, and Clemente de la Cerda were synonymous with
profit and with Venezuelan subject matter. The nation’s film industry finally
seemed to be under way, and melodrama was one of its fundamental traits.9
The prospects of a viable industry began to fade after the economic crisis of
1983, which affected industries throughout Latin America. But the roots of a
melodramatic imagination had taken firm hold of cinematic and televisual
images, and Venezuela, along with Mexico, Brazil, and Argentina, became a
major exporter of telenovelas to the world. It is not surprising that Venezuela
continues to be one of the major consumers of the melodramatic form.
Notes
All translations from the Spanish are my own unless stated otherwise.
1. See Herlinghaus; Monsiváis.
2. The romantic excess of 1940s radionovelas, taken up by telenovelas in the 1950s,
also contributed to the popularity of the genre.
3. Because of the novel’s implicit critique of the dictatorship, Gallegos was forced
under U.S. or applicable copyright law.
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Carlos Hugo Christensen, 1950), Seis meses de vida (Six Months of Life, by Víctor
Urruchúa, 1951), Territorio verde (Green Territory, by Horacio Peterson and Ariel
Severino, 1952), Luz en el páramo (Light in the High Plains, by Víctor Urruchúa, 1953),
and Noche de milagros (Night of Miracles, by Renzo Russo, 1953). The comedies were
El demonio es un ángel (The Demon Is an Angel, by Carlos Hugo Christensen, 1949)
and Yo quiero una mujer así (That’s the Woman I Want, by Juan Carlos Thorry, 1950).
The sole musical was Venezuela también canta (Venezuela Also Sings, by Fernando
Cortés, 1951).
6. It won the award of the International Federation of Film Critics and the prize
for best cinematography.
7. For a more complete picture of the trajectory of Chalbaud’s career, see Naranjo.
8. See King (220) for additional commentary on the film’s score.
9. After making several political films, Walerstein went on to produce passion-
ate stories with strong melodramatic components, as some of his film titles suggest:
Macho y hembra (Male and Female, 1985), De mujer a mujer (Woman to Woman,
1986), Con el corazón en la mano (Heart in Hand, 1988), and Movil pasional (Pas-
sionate Cause, 1994).
Works Cited
Aguirre, Jesús M., and Marcelino Bisbal. El nuevo cine venezolano. Caracas: Editorial
Ateneo de Caracas, 1980.
Cabrujas, José Ignacio. Y Latinoamérica inventó la telenovela. Caracas: Alfadil Edi-
ciones, 2002.
Caropreso Ponce, Luis. Breve historia del cine nacional, 1909–1964. Mimeograph.
Cúa, Venezuela: Concejo Municipal del Distrito Urdaneta, 1964.
Chalbaud, Román. “Apuntes de un cineasta,” El nacional (Caracas), August 12,
1979, 4.
———. “Apuntes de un cineasta,” El nacional (Caracas), September 23, 1979, 12.
Colmenares, María Gabriela. “Industria e imitación: Los géneros cinematográficos
en los largometrajes de ficción de Bolívar Films.” Archivos 31 (Madrid) (February
1999): 123–35.
Herlinghaus, Hermann. “La imaginación melodramática: Rasgos intermediales y
heterogéneos de una categoría precaria.” In Narraciones anacrónicas de la moderni-
dad: Melodrama e intermedialidad en América Latina. Ed. Hermann Herlinghaus.
under U.S. or applicable copyright law.
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