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    Political violence and the the Construction of National Identity in Latin America (Will Fowler and Peter Lambert pp. 131-148)

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    Political Violence and The The Construction of National Identity in Latin America (Will Fowler and Peter Lambert Pp. 131-148)

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    Political Violence and the Construction of National Identity in Latin America Edited by Will Fowler and Perer Lambert palgreve ‘macmillan f ‘© Will Foner and Peter Lambert, 2006. ‘All ight reserved No part af this book may be uted a reprecucedin any ‘manner whetsaever without writen permasson except nthe case a eet ‘quotations embodied in eatiealatles or eviews, Fict published in 2008 by PALCAAVE MACMILLAN? {7 ith Avene, New Yor, NY. 10010 and Hound, Basingstoke, Hampstie, Gagland R21 6XS Companies and representatives thoughout the wold PALGRAVE MACMILLAN isthe lab academic mpi of the Palgrave Macmiln division of St. Martins Pres, 1X and of Palgrave Maca td Macmillan ea registered trademan inthe United States, United Kingdom fad other counties, Palgrave ie 2 registered ademarkin the European Union on ter counts, Is8N-12:978-1-4039-7308-7 ISBN 10; 1-4039-7386-1 Library of Congress Cataloging ray of Congress. ation Data availa from the “catalogue seco for this book i aval fromthe Btsh Libary. Design by Neween Imaging Systems (Ltd, Chenna,Ind Fst eation: December 2006 woe 7esas2t Printed in he United States of Americ. Georgetown University Library DEC 2 2 2006 In Italy for shirty years under the Borgias they had warfare, terror, murder, bloodshed —they produced Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci and the Renaissance. In Switzerland they had brotherly love, five hundred yeas of democracy and peace and what did that produce ...? The cuckoo clock The Third Man (1949; divected by Carol Reed); words added by Orson Welles t0 Graham Greene’ script CHAPTER 8 Political Violence, Cinematic Representation, and Peruvian National Identity: La Boca del Lobo (Francisco Lombardi, 1988) and La Vida es una Sola (Marianne Eyde, 1993) Savwh Barrow co democracy after relve years of mili- LLumencalist splinter group of he pro-Maoise Peruvian ‘onumunist Parry, Sendero Luiniune, broke into a polling station in the town of Chuschi, Ayacucho, an desteoyed the ballot boxes. This ace oF aggression is usually taken as marking the onsec of pwelve years of armed strug ale, which ewalved ineo “dirty” political war between the military and Senidera thar petsisted through three presidencies (Beladinde (980-1985, Garcia 1985-1990, and Fujimori 1999-2000), uncil che eapsuee of the insurgent groups leader, Abimael Guzman, in 1992. This chapter will look ac how some pects of this bloudy conflict have been dealt with by owoof Perusmiost impor makers. However, before doing soit is importane co outline some of the tors underpinning the development of Sineeve in particula, is inexte cable fink to che complexities of Peru’ nacional identity and the importance of its response cote yrowing alienation of the Andean communities as con oastal eval co the relative prosperity of city-based meticus Hh Bartow ¢ Avs ge haere, Pervi oc ri ones idianness, in leney chain con neatly all dimensions of unequal relations"! Decades nf connie dispar ity. racial prejudice, and deepening distress took cheit coll, culesiaating in peasant riots in the 1950s and 1960s, Il-conecived land refemis om the pare Gf General Velasco in the 1970s caused farther pain for rural wommunities by fimvinating the landowning elite who had at Kast acted as interaedinries breoeen state and society. Charismatic university. professor G ‘exploited the sense of intense disillusionment and the poliial vac state policies provoked, He also ook advantage ofthe effects of the expansion iow of the 1960s throughout the provinces, which had + multitude of binary elations of dependence and doninst scheme, is defined asthe low end of a depos of university edu ings heightened awareness ofthe perineal ult sions dat “Teac Per. Maen even tigen that" rca base yah to hot dacs ad practice andy xn by he ime Sendo launch inde preceing owe dead! Coes the aed ay hod xpi the gop expansion draughout the cary an sil sf Belandes govern nlst take de oly then Gael lloeat sce estes ales the prblem. lv alsion, by te be 1980s, the curays xonom groper sion had spiraled out of control, and Sender» declared its inten co shit is fous froin che county ecate anions and community groups and! targeted gov frnment officials ina wave oF assaasinations that took the administration by ide to the cities, especially Lima. Once there, the gronup begin cin Bake ine Aber Fujimori os sk psd in 1990, "he general even sha ehe Shining Path was sci aang award gol Bring dn te tat” sie nan ff cow the athe mia fad Bec one ofthe words worst hus vgs abuses Ahh recent reports reveal that the level of abuse on the part of the military remained high, Fujimori wa suecessful in bringing Sendero under control by implementing « number of complementary mieasates. He improved military 80 a5 0 reduce internal conflict and salaries and centralized decision maki bene tl He ested grater empha aml eros wee ten 10 intelligence agencies, leading to the capture of many of dhe senders leaders, and their computer records, Perhaps mose importantly Fr dhe longer ter, he reintluced civil defense patrols onrdas) comprising of local people who rc eo aeaice Sendero attacks, while also full worked alongside f Political Violence, Cinematic Representatian © 155 aan invermediary role berween stare and rural comm “his mobilizing capacity .- ultimately pro clement in the Fujimori effort co defeat Seudirn.”* This politically motivated eonllice between Sender sand srave left aca seventy thousand vierims—dead or disappeared—at atime when the country \was also in che throes of sociopolitical and economic collapse. * Pe filmakers largely avoided the topic uf political violence during most of the 1980s, bur si umber of directors, Nevertheless, only two national feature Bilis have explicitly por ies, As Mauceti eal che most success cobs <¢ 1988 i has become a focus of avention for crayed the violence of Senderw and its eansequences for rural communities, Lat Baca del Labo (ranciseo Loovbardi, 1988) explores the morives and actions of young soldiers fromm Lima an their relationship with the Andean in) they have come to defend, while Ln Vide es smu Sole (Marianne Eyde, 1993) focuses more specitically wv Andean commnunicy etughe bheawwen Sender and the armed forces. This chapter sets our 40 unravel the key ek and reveption pertaining ta these iis, and ‘he ways in which they link political violence @ national ieney: Boch were greeted with caution by the state and che domestic audience who were suspi- ious about the perceive anticstblishinent positions proposed by ther Eyde’s work in particular sullered trom being recuse shortly after the exp ‘owe of Guzman, a Sgnificanc evene that gave just cause for national celebrae tion but it alo triggered a period of widespread national ansnesia and denial. These prevailed a sense thatthe nation should moxe forward and quickly try 4 forge its painfal recent past, This entailed downplaying, che excenc af che violence suffered by the most marginalized communities in rural Pera, and y's brutal anisubversve strate for the sike of national unity. Eye’ film, which served in. part reminder of the increasingly harsh natuce of the goxeroment’s counerinsur & regime, and provided uncomfortable viewing for the Ginema-viewing, major ity based i the cities 1 the experiences of ats of representa ‘turning a blind eye to the nature of the mil vy stracegy, was therefore viewed as an ideological chieat «© Fujimoris This chapter seeks co investigace the representacion of Petes political vio- lence in both films, while abo exploring the context of sheir elease dates and the different deyrees of controversy sparked by each, It father asks why’ this Jmporeanc national theme bas remained oa the margins of Peruvian eierna production, despite the possibilities for testimany, debate, and conscruetion fof a sense or image of nacion via its national cinerna, Regan this latter point Andrew Higson has suggested that «tational cinema might be defined partly in cerms of ies potential co represent “national idencigy.” He points our chat while this could imply" at cincina simply rellets on proses pre-exiscing, Ine sah Barwon ( national identity, consciousness, or culture,” there is abe the possibilty chac ‘national iene is constiucted in and through representation."* He quickly resolves chi cension by clarifying rhae “films will draw on identities and rep- seventations already in ctculation—and often they will nauralize chose ‘ities. Bue fils will abo produce new representations of the nation,”? La Baca del Lob av bot Vide: rns Sala both dea upon ideas, evens. people, an! images that many already asociace with Peru and chat are “already in c= culation,” hoth nationally and internationally, «0 echo Higson. Buc © what ns also question and challenge some of the assurmptions and pixies surrounding such events and che people involved, thereby con- ribusing co the constuction of more complex notions of national identiey? This chapter aims vo ceveal how chese national films offer ways of under- standing an important period of Peru’ national history and the development ‘of its national identay, and how chey challenged the domi discourse ofthe time. ‘On che relationship becween national cinema and national identi, Emma Wilson, in hee sensitive discussion of French cinema, makes & general observation chat: “[Clinema may provide us with identity images, yer ic ean also remind us chat identities are unstable, change hough tna, cation” and cancounters, have many facets and ace inherendy unknowable." Susan Haywwued gous farther in arguing that national cinema “should Funetion asa imiseen-scine of scared and dissenting idencities.”” However, this poten- cextenc do th \egemon tial for national cinema to dea atention «© those deep-rooted ethnic and

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