The city and the swamp: Bolivian immigration, social class, and race in Argentine film since the crisis
Description
The New Argentine Film Movement, a loose conglomeration of filmmakers that have altered conceptions of what it means to make national and political cinema in Argentina since the 1990's, has often located itself on the margins in terms of both geography and ideology. It is telling that in the four films analyzed in this study---La Cienaga and La Nina Santa by Lucrecia Martel, and Bolivia and Un Oso Rojo by Adrian Caetano---the downtown Buenos Aires is never shown. While the plaza de mayo and the casa rosada are the political and social centerpieces of Argentina, and the obelisco the prominent symbol of modern progress and nationalism, the structural analyses of these films reveals the formation of new national ideologies surging from the fringes of both the capital and the country. I argue that Martel and Caetano present this 'new' Argentina, imbued not with an uncontested 'European' heritage and stable middle class, but instead with multiple identities and intimately connected to the chaotic overhaul of the 2001 economic crisis which left many searching for new meanings, new jobs, and new residences. Specifically, I consider Bolivian influences in the films---in many ways 'Bolivians,' as discussed by scholars such as Alejandro Grimson and Cristina Garcia Vazquez, has come to designate the 'Other' in Argentine society. I find that both Martel and Caetano consistently investigate the 'Other' in their films, and while 'Bolivia' and 'Bolivians' are specifically referenced and prominent in their first feature-length works, their second films (completed after the crisis) generally take slightly different approaches