Film Essay and Short Presentation
Latin American Essay
Film Essay and Short Presentation
The essay assignment (Worth 15% of your course grade and due on the last day of class). Your final paper of the semester will be a film review essay that is a minimum of 1,200 words in length (4-to-5 pages), excluding the citations and the required bibliography. Your essay should be double-spaced, have numbered pages, use standard page margins and fonts, and include page-specific and properly formatted citation. Please include a title for your essay and list the paper’s word count.
The paper should address several aspects of a film selected from the list I have provided (see me for approval if you have an alternative film in mind), and it must also incorporate outside research from at least three, high quality sources. Although you may consult your course readings for background information, the paper and talk should explicitly incorporate materials demonstrating that you have carefully reviewed several peer-reviewed research articles beyond the work assigned in the class.
The content of your paper should be organized around four main themes: (1) a brief summary of the film’s main plot outline and characters, (2) an analysis of the political or social issues/themes to which the film speaks, (3) an assessment of the accuracy of the film in portraying its main topics/themes, and (4) either a synthesis of the overall impact of the film as reviewed by expert reviewers or an analysis of the film in light of social science research on the same general topic. If you need any help identifying a film or getting started on your research, please don’t hesitate to contact me for a meeting.
Before beginning the paper, you should carefully review the handouts on my website addressing citation requirements and essay grading criteria. The paper’s citations and bibliography should carefully follow one three formats most used in the social sciences: University of Chicago, the APA, or the APSA. For your convenience, my website provides a handout with many formatting examples using the APSA style as well as a chapter from a political science writing manual with examples of APSA citation.
The oral presentation (Worth 5% of your final course grade; presentations will occur during the last two class meetings). Each student will give a 5-to-7 minute oral presentation that summarizes the main findings of their paper. Your talk should address each of the four elements noted above, and it will be graded using a rubric that assigns equally weighted performance ratings across several areas:
- Is your talk organized so that it is easy to follow the main points and transitions between them?
- Is the talk delivered in a professional manner that respects the audience by making some effort to engage it, including maintaining eye contact?
- Does the talk provide a sophisticated analysis of the of the film research that addresses each of the required elements outlined above?
- Does the talk stay within the allotted time?
In each of these skills areas, you will receive one of five grades: A (exceptionally strong), B (very good), C (both satisfactory and consistent with the average expectations for a college student presentation), D (an attempt was made, but the result was unsatisfactory and below average), or F (the work was completely unsatisfactory or not done).
Film Choices
You have many options, and more may be added throughout the term; you are welcome to write your analytical essay on another film with the consent of your instructor. If a film is available to borrow from our library, this is noted; however it may also be available to stream from Amazon or Netflix. Because it requires a membership (trial memberships are free), I note Netflix as a source only when a film is not also available in the library or to rent from Amazon.com. Before selecting your film, check out its rating and trailers at You may also find out-takes and trailers on YouTube
Abril Despedaçado (Behind the Sun, 2001). When ordered by his father to avenge the death of his older brother, a young man questions the tradition of violence between two rival families. The film is an exploration of a family feud and politics in the Brazilian badlands. It won the Havana Film Festival prize for top Latin American film.
Smith Library: AV 791.4372 B3951mi 2002
Apocalypto (2006). Political and social life in the Mayan empire. Although the film reeks of Hollywood and is mostly in English, it was generally well received critically and by advocates of indigenous Latin Americans.
Smith Library: AV 791.4372 Ap42to 2007
Before Night Falls (2000, in English). An episodic look at the life of Cuban poet and novelist, Reinaldo Arenas. Despite his participation in Cuban revolution, Arenas was jailed by the Castro regime as a consequence of his sexual preference and writing.
Smith Library: AV 791.4372 B39352ne 2001
Cautivo (Captive, 2004). The daughter of activists who were “disappeared” in Argentina’s Dirty War embarks on a journey to find her true identity after she is ordered to leave the “parents” who raised her and to live with her grandmother.
Netflix streaming
Central do Brasil (Central Train Station, 2003). A motion picture exploring the relationship between a child who has lost his mother and middle-aged woman working to reunite him with his father. The film won numerous international awards.
Smith Library: AV 791.4372 C33so 1999
Che: The Argentine (2009, part one of this two film set). The early life of Che Guevara. This film is being released in to parts in 2009.
Smith Library: AV 791.4372 C41011eo 2009 pt. 1
Che: The Guerilla (2009, part two of this two film set). The early life of Che Guevara. This film is being released in to parts in 2009.
Smith Library: AV 791.4372 C41011eo 2009 pt. 2
Cidade de Deus (City of God, 2002). Urban and drug politics is explored for boys coming of age in one of Rio de Janeiros outer suburbs.
Smith Library: AV 791.4372 C4987mi 2003 c. 3
Cocalero (2007). A documentary exploring the election of Boliva’s first indigenous president, Evo Morales, who was previously employed as a labor organizer in the coco leaf industry. If you want to take a close, detailed and balanced look at how an indigenous political party works, this might be a good choice. Be warned that it is not an action packed drama and would have benefitted from more selective editing.
Smith Library: AV 984.052 L23co 2006
Cidade dos Homens (City of Men, 2007). Make sure to get the correct film as this is a short version of a Brazilian miniseries. Filmed in Rios shanty towns, the film explores the politics of race, urban crime, poverty, gang warfare, and corruption of various sorts. Smith Library: AV 791.4372 C49875mi 2008
Cidade dos Homens (City of Men, the mini-series). The film by the same name is an edited version of this mini-series that originally aired on Brazils dominant television station over a several-year period. If you would like more depth and rich detail than is available in the movie, watch any 3 episodes.
Smith Library: AV 791.4372 C49876pa 2006 Eps. 1-7
El Violin (2005). In an unnamed Latin American country that closely resembles Mexico, the government fights a rural insurgency with torture, assault, rape, and murder. Soldiers descend on a town, cutting off the rebels from their cache of ammunition hidden in a field.
Amazon streaming
Evita (1996, in English). A musical based on the life of Argentina’s Evita Peron.
Smith Library: AV 791.4372 Ev3ho 1998
Kiss of the Spider Woman (1985, in English). A political prisoner and man imprisoned for his sexual orientation and crimes against minors share a prison cell. The setting appears to be Brazil under its military regime. The acting by Raul Julia and William Hurt received widespread critical acclaim.
Smith Library: AV 791.4372 K6437ci 2008
María Llena eres de gracia (Maria Full of Grace, 2004). A profile of a young woman’s involvement with drug smuggling from Latin America to the US.
Smith Library: AV 791.4372 M33hb 2004
Romero (1989, in English). Based on the life, liberation theology, and murder of an El Salvadoran bishop.
Smith Library: AV 791.4372 R664vi 2009
The Judge and the General (2008, in English). The prosecution of Augusto Pinochet for human rights violations during his 17 years of rule and Chile.
Amazon streaming
The Two Escobars (2010, in English). Award-winning directors Jeff Zimbalist and Michael Zimbalist use this documentary film to examine the intersection of narco-trafficking and sport in Colombia.
Netflix streaming
The Fall of Fujimori (2006, mostly English). This award winning documentary explores how and why Peru’s government pressed the limits of democracy in its battle against the Shining Path guerillas.
Smith Library: AV 985.0643 F95fa 2006
Machuca (2007). A motion picture exploring, through the eyes of children, the period surrounding the overthrow of Salvador Allende government in Chile, which led to two decades of dictatorship.
Smith Library: AV 791.4372 M185me 2007
The Mission (1986, in English). Jesuit missionaries mediate the relationship between indigenous peoples in colonial-era Brasil, the Vatican, and the European settlers who seek to enslave them.
Smith Library: AV 791.4372 M69wa 1991
The Motorcycle Diaries (2004, in English). The early life and political motivations of Ernesto Che Guevara as he travels through Latin America.
Smith Library: AV 791.4372 M857fo 2005
The Official Story (1995). Description; short outake. A drama examining the personal consequences of Argentinas Dirty War.
Smith Library: AV 791.4372 P96of 1995
O que é isso, companheiro? (Four Days in September, 1997). The kidnapping of a US diplomat in Rio de Janeiro by leftists and the political repression surrounding their decision to take this action.
Smith Library: AV 791.4372 F8257mi 2003
Pixote (1981). This Brazilian film dramatizes the plight of millions of children who live on the streets or get ground up in the system that breeds hardened criminals from juvenile delinquents. This dramatic portrait of poverty is shocking and affecting; it is frequently noted on lists of the best films available on homeless children.
Amazon streaming
Sin Nombre (Without a Name, 2009). A relationship between two young people is used to explore impact of gangs, poverty, and youth violence on Mexican political and social life.
Smith Library: AV 791.4372 Si615fo 2009
South of the Border (2010). Oliver Stone sets out on a road trip across five countries to explore the social and political movements and the mainstream media's misperception of South America while interviewing seven of its elected presidents.
Amazon streaming
Tropa de Elite (Elite Squad, 2008). Police and political corruption in Rio de Janeiro as told through the eyes of a member of the city’s most prestigious police units. Smith Library: AV 791.4372 EL487we 2008
Tropa de Elite 2 (Elite Squad—The Enemy Within, 2010). Better than the first one, which was extremely well receive in Brazil and abroad.
Amazon streaming
Viva Cuba (2007). Two children in Cuba from different social classes become friends and take a trip across the country.
Amazon streaming
Waste Land (2010, mostly Portuguese). Filmed over nearly three years, Waste Land follows renowned artist Vik Muniz as he journeys from his home base in Brooklyn to his native Brazil and the world's largest garbage dump, Jardim Gramacho, located on the outskirts of Rio de Janeiro. There he photographs an eclectic band of catadores — or garbage pickers.
Amazon streaming
Voces Inocentes (Innocent Voices, 2005). A feature film portraying childhood in a war zone. The film is set in El Salvador.
Smith Library: AV 791.4372 In66po 2007
Which Way Home (2007. Mostly Spanish). The film documents the plight of the children left behind when their families travel to the United States to find work. It follows a trio of children who set out on their own from their Latin American countries on a dangerous trek through Mexico en route to the US border.
Netflix streaming