New National Cinemas in a Transnational Age

Integral to the expansion of capitalism since the nineteenth century, the cultural communications complex which used to be analyzed as cultural imperialism has now evolved into the object of study of theories in globalization (Miller, et al. 18). One of the Third World's legitimate and powerful reactions against that earlier cultural imperialism took the form of ideological denunciations of its content-based products. Along with such a political analysis went a search for pure alternative positions which, at the artistic level, were often conflated with the avant-garde forms of the left intelligentsia. In today's epochal climate, I will argue, films such as the ones I explore here, have developed a more complex reaction to better suit the needs of differently acculturated audiences. Pace Audre Lorde ("The master's tools will never dismantle the master's house") the films I will focus on here use some of the formal tools of dominant Hollywood productions and combine them with more vernacular, regional forms and experiences in an effort to produce a critique of the impact of neoliberalism on the national societies of Latin America in times of globalization. Reworking and re-appropriating some of the "master's tools" these films marry the so-called MTV style with classical political allegory and melodrama, thus heralding, perhaps, the emergence of a new type of cinematographic legibility—what I will call here a powerful neopopular mode—in works which, through their creative engagement with international film genres, are both accessible and productive for many glocal publics.¹

I will analyze two relatively recent films, Amores perros by Alejandro González Iñárritu² (Mexico 2000) and El Chacotero Sentimental (The Sentimental Teaser) by Cristián Galaz³ (Chile 1999). Both have enjoyed massive audience success and critical acclaim nationally and internationally; both are full-length directorial debuts, both use a tripartite narrative structure that places the national bourgeoisie at the very center of their discourse, and through a strong allegorical process make that bourgeoisie politically responsible for the situation in the country. At both ends of this center, the so-called marginal sectors of society grapple with the results of the neoliberalization of society in general and, more specifically, with contemporary life in the Latin American megalopolis. After introducing both films briefly, I will analyze their tripartite narrative structure, paying particular attention to the middle episode which grounds their allegorical dominant register. I will then connect those allegorizations with what I take to be these films' formal and cultural contributions to our (visual) experience and understanding of the current neoliberal age in Latin America.⁴

Amores perros, written by Guillermo Arriaga and directed by Alejandro González Iñárritu, had a full run in the commercial US circuit and was widely reviewed in the American press. In an excellent article in The Nation, B. Ruby Rich wrote: "It has been a long time since a Mexican film became an international critics' darling or audience favorite (since, probably, Like Water for Chocolate). The success of first-time director Alejandro González Iñárritu's Oscar, nominated, Cannes-awarded Amores perros (Love's a Bitch)" changes that. (34) The film is composed of three segments, each titled after a couple: "Octavio and Susana," "Daniel and Valeria," and "El Chivo and Maru." Their lives become intertwined in connection with a major car crash. This collision functions as the point of departure and/or arrival for each one of the couples' stories which provide us with access to three different sectors of Mexican society: the lower middle class, the high bourgeoisie, and, finally, the leftist intellectuals turned either guerrilla fighters or hired guns.

In the US context El Chacotero Sentimental, although very successful with other international audiences at multiple film festivals, probably needs more in the way of an introduction. Directed by Cristián Galaz and written by Mateo Iribarren, the film is based on one of the most successful radio shows in the last thirty years of Chilean broadcasting. The title's "chacotero" ("the teaser") refers to nothing less than the penis in the particular popular slang of Chilean...