The Compilation Film of the Mexican Revolution: History as Catalogue and Monument

Abstract

This article contextualizes the Mexican revolutionary and postrevolutionary historical compilation film that emerged during and after the 1910–17 conflict in relation to similar contemporary practices. I show how nonfilmic materials, specifically a card catalogue/script in actuality film pioneer Salvador Toscano's archive, provide vital information for interpreting how he and others used the form to create cinematic monuments to the ongoing historical process of nation building. As a key component of Mexican cinema culture, the compilation film elevated the idea of the Mexican Revolution to the status of unquestionable historical fact, thus fulfilling a key ideological task of postrevolutionary historical discourse.