Centering Race and Class in Contemporary Argentine and Brazilian Cinema: Documenting Neocolonialism Through Film

Abstract

Argentine and Brazilian contemporary cinema provide thorough documentation of the avenues through which neocolonialism rears its head in modern Latin America. In the following work, four films are given treatment to provide case studies of racism and classism as they present themselves in Argentina and Brazil. The thesis is divided into two parts, both containing a pair of films from either country. Part 1 examines the 2015 work of Brazilian director Anna Muylaert, Que Horas Ela Volta? in chapter 1, and the 2001 film by director Lucrecia Martel, La Ciénega in the following chapter. Part 2 reviews the Brazilian film Bacurau in chapter 3, directed by Kleber Mendoça Filho and Juliano Dornelles in 2019, closing with the 2015 film, Relatos Salvajes in chapter 4, by Argentine director Damián Szifron. Films provide a window into the cultural and artistic manifestations of anti-colonial movements. Chapters are paired based on similar stylistic choices on the part of the filmmakers such as lighting, use of sound, and narrative, but also taking complementary themes into account, such as sexism, police violence, slavery, and capitalism.