''Blood of the Condor'' ( qu, Yawar Mallku, es, Sangre de cóndor) is a 1969 Bolivian

drama film In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. Drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular super- ...

co-written and directed by

Jorge Sanjinés Jorge Sanjinés (born 31 July 1936 in La Paz, Bolivia) is a Bolivian film director and screenwriter. He founded the production group ''Grupo Ukamau''. He won the ALBA Prize for Arts in 2009. Film career Jorge Sanjinés brings highly political film ...

and starring Marcelino Yanahuaya. The film tells the story of an indigenous Bolivian community receiving medical care from the

Peace Corps The Peace Corps is an independent agency and program of the United States government that trains and deploys volunteers to provide international development assistance. It was established in March 1961 by an executive order of President John ...

-like United States-backed agency ''Cuerpo del Progreso'' ("Progress Corps") which is secretly sterilising local women. The story, which was based on accounts by the indigenous people to the filmmaker, provoked an outrage in the public which led to a government investigation about the Peace Corps' actions in Bolivia, which ended in the expulsion of the agency from the country.

Plot summary

An indigenous Bolivian community receiving medical care from the

-like American agency ''Cuerpo del Progreso'' ("Progress Corps") which is secretly sterilising local women. The Bolivians attack the foreigners, and the attackers are rounded up and shot by the authorities. The brother of the shot protagonist desperately seeks medical care for his brother, but due to lack of money for proper care his brother dies.

Impact

Sanjinés' ''Yawar Mallku'' is thought to have led to the expulsion of the Peace Corps from Bolivia in an act of anti-imperialist

cultural nationalism Cultural nationalism is nationalism in which the nation is defined by a shared culture and a common language, rather than on the concepts of common ancestry or race. Cultural nationalism does not tend to manifest itself in independent movements, ...

by the indigenous people. After showings of ''Yawar Mallku'', Sanjinés learned that many peasants had criticism about the difficulty of his films due to the use of flashback for narration, as his film-making was greatly influenced by

European art cinema European art cinema is a branch of cinema that was popular in the latter half of the 20th century. It is based on a rejection of the tenets and techniques of classical Hollywood cinema. History European art cinema gained popularity in the 1950s ...

, and about the lack of attention to denouncing the causes of the

indigenous peoples Indigenous peoples are culturally distinct ethnic groups whose members are directly descended from the earliest known inhabitants of a particular geographic region and, to some extent, maintain the language and culture of those original people ...

' issues. He took this into account when making his next film, called '' :es:El coraje del pueblo'' (" The Courage of the People"), in 1971.Rosalind Galt, Karl Schoonover. ''Global Art Cinema: New Theories and Histories''. 2010, pp. 359.

References

External links

* {{Jorge Sanjinés Bolivian drama films 1969 films 1969 in Bolivia Films about genocide Films about the Peace Corps Films about racism Sterilization in fiction Films directed by Jorge Sanjinés Quechua-language films 1960s English-language films 1960s Spanish-language films 1960s multilingual films

Plot summary

Impact

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References

External links