O CAMINHO DO VIEJO REALES

Abstract

This article is about the cinematographic representation of the life and struggles of sugar cane workers in Tucumán, Argentina, during the 1960s and 1970s. The object of this work is the film El camino hacia la muerte del Viejo Reales (1974), by the tucuman filmmaker Gerardo Vallejo, member of the Cine Liberación group. The meeting of struggles and cinema as an instance of reflection and intervention by the union and politic activists of the sugar cane fields in that historical period reminds us of the possibilities of cinema, but also of the workers themselves thinking about their own action. The film in question is, in its first part, a testimony of the Reales family about his life, with the participation of the family in the staging of situation that the simple interview would not allow. The family even accepts to participate, including elements of fiction, whose condition is not  hidden from the viewers. This facilitates the passage from the singular history to the history of the sugar cane workers in Tucumán. In the second part, it traces a historical panorama of Tucumán and the sugar industry, as well as the construction of the Federación Obrera de la Industria del Azúcar (FOTIA) through its struggles, through the voice of its own militants. By organizing film material in this way, the montage builds a meaning and puts it at the service of the workers’ organization, either for self-reflection or as material for the own education.

Keywords: Sugar cane workers. Tucumán-Argentine Republic. Political cinema. Documentary.