Watching the way the Chilean people fought for a just government is extremely moving. While the film narrates and has footage of the protests, as a viewer you feel that the voices of the people in this fight are prioritized in the film. Viewers get to hear their experiences, their struggles, and thus understand how their opinions are shaped by these factors. Paired with the narration providing historical context, the actions unfolding in front of our eyes are in constant communication with what we are hearing. I also really appreciate the handheld nature of this documentary. We are rarely still, always on the move— an accurate representation of the Chilean people fighting for a better government. They are not passive subjects, so the camera should not be passive either.

-KM

I really enjoyed our class discussion on Di Calvacanti, Rocha’s film honoring his late friend. The film was highly controversial due to the tone it took on and many of my peers, including myself, agreed that the film felt insensitive and disrespectful to Calvacanti’s loved ones. However, if one is able to look past that, one is able to appreciate the film. The whole film portrays an intense feeling of distress. With how Rocha is speaking throughout the film along with the frantic edits and cuts, the film encapsulates Rocha’s potential guilt and regret of not appreciating his dear friend while he was alive. It also feels like a very rebellious film— as if Rocha knew about the controversy that would spark and how he did not care about upsetting anyone. In the film, we hear the lines “film irritates daughters” and we see images of newspapers headlining “Rocha films the whole thing [the funeral].” It felt as though he wanted to show that he knew what he was doing and he knew that this needed to be done. This turned out to be a very intense and emotional film— very well done— but it seems to be made at the expense of others.

The film we watched in class today simply blew me away. I was very confused when I heard that this film was a mix of fiction and documentary and I was very curious as to how this would function and what results it would have and I have to say I was pleasantly surprised. Yolanda and Mario did a great job of encapsulating characters that highlighted many prominent issues of a revolutionary Cuba, specifically that of men being Yolanda represents the ideal revolutionary cuban woman. However with her character being a White presenting Mulatta she does not adequately represent the same struggles that an afro-cuban woman faces. I think the choice to make her white was very effective because through her character the audience understood the ways that she did not grasp the experiences of afro cuban communities– specifically when trying to discipline her students. She was confused as to why parents would allow their children to behave in certain ways, not realizing that the parents had other concerns (such as putting food on the table) that took priority over disciplining their children. The film addressed intersectionality very well because while a minority as a woman, Yolanda still had more privelege than a black woman.

Watching Mi Aporte was very fulfilling for me. In the film, the issues of being a woman in the workforce during the revolution were being discussed by women who were in the midst of a changing Cuba. This film reminded me of the cinema verite film, Chronicle of a Summer, because both included real opinions and debates amongst communities and the reactions of people to the film. Growing up in a Mexican household, the scenes where the four women were debating about the hardships around integrating women as functioning members of society really resonated with me as I was raised around with the same oppressive values that were creating obstacles for these women. As my peer, Tea, highlights, this discussion happened 50 years ago, yet women today are still talking about the same topics; discussing women in male dominated fields is very much a topic of debate today. I think another reason why this scene stuck with me was because growing up Latina I never heard these things discussed among latino communities. As first generation Americans, my sister and I were the ones to spawn such controversial discussions with our parents. Seeing it discussed by these educated Cuban women decades ago was very empowering. I really appreciated the idea to have women react to the original debate because these was a slight generational gap between the two groups of women and as a viewer you get to see nearly all approaches to this issue and how it was affecting and being perceived by different groups of women from all ages and walks of life.