The aesthetics of care in Albertina Carri’s "Los Rubios"

• Kristal Bivona ^[1]
  1. [1] San Diego State University

     San Diego State University

     Estados Unidos

     
• Localización: CiberLetras: revista de crítica literaria y de cultura, ISSN-e 1523-1720, Nº. 48, 2023 (Ejemplar dedicado a: Perspectives on Spanish, Latin American and Latinx television and cinema)
• Idioma: inglés
• Enlaces
  • Texto completo (pdf)
• Resumen

  • Nearly 20 years since its release, Alber|na Carri’s Los Rubios remains a crucial film for understanding the sequelae of the Argen|ne civic-military dictatorship (1976-1983). This ar|cle examines how Los Rubios renders visible certain processes of consolida|on of memory and mythmaking while simultaneously challenging the discourses that were becoming dominant as Argen|na was making significant headway in its pursuit of truth and jus|ce. The film’s iconoclas|c representa|on of the dictatorship, resistance, and their aÖermath brings aäen|on to what dominant discourses of the dictatorship had rendered invisible.

    Carri rebels against the doxa of documentary filmmaking to more aptly depict the non-linear processes of memory. Considering poli|cal theorist Mihaela Mihai’s work on the aesthe|cs of care and engaging in visual analysis, this essay posits that Carri’s film undertakes a project of mnemonic care with a clear preoccupa|on for presen|ng a more complex and expansive memory of the dictatorship. Understanding the film as a work of mnemonic care illuminates how Los Rubios intervened in Argen|ne poli|cal memory when it came out as well as the stakes of the controversy that followed.