Forensic Memory, Responsibility, and Judgment
The Chilean Documentary in the Postauthoritarian Era
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 4500614 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Walescka Pino-Ojeda (0000-0001-7036-8845, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2013 |
| Volume | 40 |
| Issue | 1 |
| Pages | 170-186 |
| Publication date | 2013-01-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Latin American Perspectives (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0094-582X • E-ISSN: 1552-678X |
| Publisher | SAGE Publications Inc (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.1177/0094582x12463198 |
| OpenAlex | W2001466406 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 2 |
| References cited | 4 |
Among the political documentaries produced in Chile in the postauthoritarian era there is a significant corpus of films that carry out a meticulous process of forensic memory. Both documentaries that dig through skeletal remains and those that excavate the memories of surviving victims or witnesses of state terror are carrying out similar archaeological forensic work. They examine records that, rather than simply evidencing past violence, exhibit the fractures (subjective and discursive) from which the past may be reconstructed. By focusing on these tasks the films La ciudad de los fotógrafos (Sebastián Moreno, 2007), El juez y el general (Elizabeth Farnsworth and Patricio Lanfranco, 2008), and El diario de Agustín (Ignacio Agüero, 2008) become media for reflection that makes it possible for viewers to confront their own history-in order to make ethical judgments that allow them to assume personal and collective responsibility in the face of a history that they have lived or have assimilated through a process of "post-memory." To the question posed by Arendt-whether thinking can help to correct and eradicate acts of radical evil-we could respond that postauthoritarian Chilean documentary finds itself dealing precisely with this possibility through accounts that, by means of personal experience and sifting through one's own biographical ruins, call on spectators to delve into their own fears and complicities. Dentro de los innumerables documentales políticos producidos en Chile en el período postautoritario, hay un corpus significativo que ha llevado a cabo un cuidadoso trabajo memorial-forense. Tanto aquellos documentales que hurgan en las reliquias óseas como los que escarban en las memorias de víctimas sobrevivientes o testigos del terror de Estado llevan a cabo un trabajo arqueológico forense. Escrutan registros en que, más que dar cuenta de la violencia de los hechos mismos, exhiben la fractura (subjetiva-discursiva) desde donde se reconstruye dicho pasado. Para tal contexto, los filmes La ciudad de los fotógrafos (Sebastián Moreno, 2007), El juez y el general (Elizabeth Farnsworth y Patricio Lanfranco, 2008), y El diario de Agustín (Ignacio Agüero, 2008) se constituyen en espacios de reflexión para hacer posible que el espectador encare su propia historia, elabore un juicio ético que le permita asumir una responsabilidad personal y colectiva frente a una historia que ha vivido biográficamente o que ha asimilado a través de la transmisión postgeneracional, vía un proceso de "post-memoria." A la interrogante planteada por Arendt-¿puede el ejercicio de pensar ayudar a corregir y erradicar los actos de maldad radical?-podríamos responder que el cine documental chileno postautoritario se encuentra precisamente abordando esta posibilidad a través de relatos que, mediante experiencias personales y atravesando las propias ruinas biográficas, interpelan al espectador para adentrarse en sus propios lastres, miedos y complicidades
Art · Face (sociological concept) · Humanities · Media studies · Political science · Politics · Politics of memory · Social science · Sociology · Television series · History · Law · Memory, Trauma, and Commemoration · Memory, violence, and history · Political and Social Dynamics in Chile and Latin America
| Unique citing works | 2 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 0,22 |
| Citation span | 2017 - 2022 (6) |
| Citation velocity | historical |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 2 |