''Madeinusa'' is a 2005 Peruvian-Spanish drama film directed by Claudia Llosa.
Plot
Set in the fictional small and isolated indigenous village of Manayaycuna ("the town no one can enter" in
Quechua
Quechua may refer to:
*Quechua people, several indigenous ethnic groups in South America, especially in Peru
*Quechuan languages, a Native South American language family spoken primarily in the Andes, derived from a common ancestral language
**So ...
) in the
Peru
, image_flag = Flag of Peru.svg
, image_coat = Escudo nacional del Perú.svg
, other_symbol = Great Seal of the State
, other_symbol_type = National seal
, national_motto = "Firm and Happy f ...
vian
Andes
The Andes, Andes Mountains or Andean Mountains (; ) are the longest continental mountain range in the world, forming a continuous highland along the western edge of South America. The range is long, wide (widest between 18°S – 20°S ...
, the story covers three days in the lives of the villagers and a stranger from
Lima
Lima ( ; ), originally founded as Ciudad de Los Reyes (City of The Kings) is the capital and the largest city of Peru. It is located in the valleys of the Chillón, Rímac and Lurín Rivers, in the desert zone of the central coastal part of ...
. The stranger, Salvador (Carlos de la Torre), is sent by a mining company to evaluate the geology of the area, but must stay in Manyaycuna over the weekend until travel can be provided. Salvador appears to be unwelcome he has arrived at the beginning of ''Tiempo Santo'' ("Holy Time"), a
syncretic
Syncretism () is the practice of combining different beliefs and various schools of thought. Syncretism involves the merging or assimilation of several originally discrete traditions, especially in the theology and mythology of religion, thu ...
religious festival spanning
Good Friday and
Easter Sunday
Easter,Traditional names for the feast in English are "Easter Day", as in the ''Book of Common Prayer''; "Easter Sunday", used by James Ussher''The Whole Works of the Most Rev. James Ussher, Volume 4'') and Samuel Pepys''The Diary of Samuel P ...
, and is sequestered in a barn by the town's mayor, Cayo. The villagers of Manayaycuna believe that during Holy Time, God, symbolized by an effigy of
Christ
Jesus, likely from he, יֵשׁוּעַ, translit=Yēšūaʿ, label=Hebrew/Aramaic ( AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ or Jesus of Nazareth (among other names and titles), was a first-century Jewish preacher and religious ...
, is dead and, therefore, nothing is a sin. Cayo is the father of the strangely named Madeinusa (
Magaly Solier
Magaly Solier Romero (born 11 June 1986) is a Peruvian actress and singer.
Magaly Solier Romero was born on 11 June 1986 in to a Quechua family, the province of Huanta, in the region of Ayacucho in Peru. She speaks the indigenous language o ...
), a teenage girl who is the eponymous protagonist of the film, and has long been trying to take her virginity. However, Madeinusa has been able to hold him off, promising she will relent during Holy Time.
At the beginning of the weekend, Madeinusa is selected as the festival's
Mater Dolorosa
Our Lady of Sorrows ( la, Beata Maria Virgo Perdolens), Our Lady of Dolours, the Sorrowful Mother or Mother of Sorrows ( la, Mater Dolorosa, link=no), and Our Lady of Piety, Our Lady of the Seven Sorrows or Our Lady of the Seven Dolours are names ...
, much to her sister Chale's dismay. Madeinusa, desperate to leave the village and go to Lima, where her mother left for many years before, becomes interested in Salvador and has a conversation with him in the family's barn. During the town's night march, Madeinusa loses her virginity to Salvador. When Cayo finds out, he acts intimidatingly to Salvador, but does not physically harm him. Later, the film shows Salvador watching through a crack in the house's wall as Cayo has sex with Madeinusa. Madeinusa begs Salvador to take her with him back to Lima against the backdrop of the high sierra Andean landscape. At the end of the film, Madeinusa slips rat poison into her father's soup, poisoning him. The two sisters place the blame on Salvador and the film ends with Madeinusa sitting in what would be Salvador's spot on the truck back to Lima, suggesting he was killed or imprisoned by the villagers.
Themes
''Madeinusa'' deals with themes including feminism, sexual violence, race, and colonialism, the latter two particularly between Salvador as a white resident of Lima and Madeinusa as a Quecha indigenous rural villager. The film also employs up-close shots and views of eyes and looking perhaps as a mechanism to discuss the sexual voyeurism in the film its broader themes.
Controversy
Madeinusa has received critical acclaim outside of Peru, but has been the subject of intense debate.
Critics of the film suggest that the film enforces racist stereotypes of indigenous Peruvians as perverted and primitive, and point to the director's upbringing as a middle-class resident of Lima as arrogantly trying to appropriate the culture of those far more marginalized than she was.
Supporters, who include star Magaly Solier and many of the residents of the actual town filmed, Canrey Chico, see the film as a postcolonial feminist narrative that subverts traditional expectations of the 'colonizer' and the 'colonized.'
Cast
*
Magaly Solier
Magaly Solier Romero (born 11 June 1986) is a Peruvian actress and singer.
Magaly Solier Romero was born on 11 June 1986 in to a Quechua family, the province of Huanta, in the region of Ayacucho in Peru. She speaks the indigenous language o ...
as Madeinusa
*
Carlos J. de la Torre as Salvador
*
Yiliana Chong as Chale
*
Juan Ubaldo Huamán as Cayo
Awards
*Winner, Best Latin-American Narrative Feature,
Mar del Plata Film Festival
The Mar del Plata International Film Festival ( es, Festival Internacional de Cine de Mar del Plata) is an international film festival that takes place every November in the city of Mar del Plata, Argentina. It is the only competitive feature fes ...
*Winner, Best Cinematography and Best Screenplay,
Cine Ceará Festival Nacional de Cinema
*Winner, Fipresci Prize,
International Film Festival Rotterdam
*Winner, Best Original Screenplay,
Havana International Film Festival
References
External links
Film Movement's ''Madeinusa'' pageFestival de Lima's Madeinusa page (Spanish)*
{{Peruvian submission for Academy Awards
2005 films
2005 drama films
Films directed by Claudia Llosa
Peruvian drama films
Spanish drama films
2000s Peruvian films
2000s Spanish-language films
Quechua-language films
Indigenous cinema in Latin America