Abstract
This study concerns the representation of colonial Latin American history and the characterization of Daniel/Hatuey in the film-about-a-film Tambien la lluvia (Iciar Bollain, 2010). A metacinematic...
Highlights
This study concerns the representation of colonial Latin American history and the characterization of Daniel/ Hatuey in the film-about-a-film También la lluvia (Icíar Bollaín, 2010)
También la lluvia/ Even the Rain (2010), directed by Icíar Bollaín and written by Paul Laverty, dramatizes the efforts of a crew led by Costa (Luis Tosar), a Spanish producer, and Sebastián (Gael García Bernal), a Mexican director, as they shoot
The use of these Christian symbols and narratives in También la lluvia serves primarily to highlight instances of hypocrisy: within the film-in-production, the ruthless conquistador literally turns the pleas of Las Casas into an invitation to mock his faith; as embodiments of Judas, Costa and Sebastián demonstrate their ultimate willingness to participate in contemporary systems of oppression in order to serve their own ends
Summary
Myths of the Conquest are foundational in the colonial textual record. In the 1493 report on his first transatlantic crossing, the famous letter written to Luis de Santángel, Columbus exalts the beauty and abundance of the islands he has visited, and describes their populations as timid, handsome, tractable and, most importantly, convertible: ‘se farán cristianos’ (Colón 2003: 222). The precise narrative of the film-in-production remains undefined, glimpsed only through disjointed rehearsals and select scenes It appears to deal with the first two decades of Spanish presence in the Caribbean, from the 1492 arrival of Columbus in Hispaniola to the 1512 execution of Hatuey in Cuba. In the film-in-production, Hatuey/ Daniel is the only major figure who appears in scenes with both Columbus and Las Casas (themselves a generation apart), confronting Columbus/ Antón when he demands that the natives of Hispaniola provide tribute in the form of gold, and later executed in front of a devastated Las Casas/ Alberto. The vital role of Hatuey – bringing together the figures of Columbus and Las Casas, and the islands of Hispaniola and Cuba – is never narratively explained in También la lluvia, forcing Hatuey/ Daniel, like the caterer during the rehearsal, to act as a silent facilitator rather than as an agent. Daniel has no narrativized agency here: perhaps he only stays so that his daughter Belén, the reason for which he was at the casting at all, has a chance to act. In any case, the narrative does not foreground Daniel, but
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