image001                                                                UNC-CH and Duke Consortium in Latin American and Caribbean Studies

Video Collection/Outreach Office

                                                Contact Information: University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

                                                3200 FedEx Global Education Center

                                                Phone: (919) 843-8888          Fax: (919) 962-0398

                                                Email: LA_films@unc.edu

 

 

ALSINO Y EL CONDOR

(Alsino and the Condor)

 

89 minutes

Directed by: Miguel Littín

 

Overview:

This film rewrites the Nicaraguan folktale of the boy who wanted to fly as the story of a boy living through the brutality of Somoza’s war on the Nicaraguan people and the corresponding rise of the Sandinistas.  Alsino takes a ride in a helicopter belonging to a US military adviser and then decides to jump from a tree and tries to fly; he cripples himself, then goes off to join the Sandinista resistance.  Alsino’s wounded body and his desire to fly are powerful metaphors in the film’s anti-interventionist message.  When the U.S. advisor oversteps his authority to avenge the death of a mercenary friend, he underestimates the skill and organization of his adversary and if killed in a battle with the Sandinistas. (Aufderheide)

 

Strengths and Weaknesses:

This allegorical film is a landmark in adversarial cinema.  Alsino, symbolizing the people, wants freedom, not the foreign substitute (helicopter).  His own efforts (individualistic solutions) fail, but when he joins the struggle, his dreams come true.  The film addresses the role played by US military advisers acting abroad, particularly in Central America.  With excellent acting and camera work, it overwhelms viewers with a sense of a child’s awe of the world.  Action sequences are handled well, as are the personal interactions, with a successful portrayal of conflicting personal loyalties.  Alsino was well received throughout Latin America and was an Academy Award nominee for Best Foreign Language Film of 1982.  Since the film is in both English and Spanish, many scenes allow for language lessons.

The film can seem a bit slow-paced for US audiences.

 

Introducing the Tape:

Viewers should have some historical background on the Sandinista revolution and the Contra war as well as some familiarity with magical realism. 

 

Background on Latin American Nuevo Cine could include the following introductory comments.  “Diverse in style, form, subject matter, and responding to the particular social and political realities of each country, the Nuevo Cine productions shared some commonalities.  They were typically authorial works, produced outside commercial cinema; they were marked by a strong passion to probe social reality and reveal popular culture; they were often oppositional to regimes that, in this period, were often military or military-controlled.  Producing works that were internationally heralded, while often bitterly contested and even censored at home, this movement became one of the hallmarks of the vibrancy of modern Latin American culture . . . Alsino was made as a Coproduction between Cuba, Mexico, and Costa Rica, and was widely seen as a filmic expression of Third World solidarity.” (Aufderheide)

 

One evaluator commented that the confusion encountered in screenings of this film with US students had more to do with the audiences than the film itself, explaining that most US students have been so thoroughly exposed to US anti-Sandinista propaganda, and are so unfamiliar with the events, that they mix up the Sandinista communists with the Contra rebels.  Even after an introduction and reminders, many students continue to read the Somozistas as communists.

 

How to Borrow this Video:

The videos owned by the UNC-Duke Consortium in Latin American and Caribbean Studies are housed in the Outreach Office of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.  They are lent free of charge.  For information on films and reservations, please visit http://isa.unc.edu/film/films_main.asp.

 

References:

Aufderheide, Patricia.  Cross Cultural Film Guide. Washington, D.C.: American University, 1992.

 

Suggested Reading:

Ranucci, Karen, ed. A Guide to Latin American, Caribbean, and U.S. Latino-Made Film and Video. Lanham, MD. Scarecrow Press. 1998.