Cracks in the Past

This chapter explores how Latin American filmmakers employ various experimental methods to decolonize popular historical discourses. Positing that cinema can challenge persistent colonial structures of knowledge and power, the analysis examines four European-backed period films. Rey (Chile) disrupts historical authenticity via stylized archival footage, revealing memory as ephemeral and manipulated. Jauja (Argentina) subverts linear time and colonial myths through a subjective, dreamlike journey. Zama (Argentina) uses sound to deconstruct the European colonizer&s;s identity and portray a gradual collapse, while Blanco en blanco (Chile) critiques photography&s;s role in staging history and constructing national identity, particularly concerning the Selk&s;nam genocide. Collectively, these films demonstrate how novel cinematic techniques problematize official historical narratives, fostering a complex, non-essentialist understanding of the past and creating “decolonial cracks” in hegemonic perspectives.