Abstract
Two apparently antithetical tendencies have dominated recent Argentine and Brazilian cinema. A return, in fiction film, to the use of natural actors and neorealist, minimalist, or observational filmic techniques has been accompanied by a marked inclination towards reflexivity in documentaries, in which layers of self-conscious mediation seem to remove us from any notion of realism. 1 Both trends can be understood, however, to enact a similar antitheatrical prejudice, stripping bare the artifice and apparatus of representation in an attempt to reveal a deeper truth. In the case of neorealism, this becomes a gesture toward greater authenticity in registering social and economic reality, particularly when nonactors are used to represent characters of their own class and profession. In reflexive filmmaking, the “truth” uncovered is the artificial and mediated nature of all representation and performance.
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