Book Review

Methods/Theory

This volume highlights a somewhat unpleasant fact of life for history teachers. Most Americans learn their "history" from movies and television, yet the accuracy of those fictionalized dramas is notably flawed. Holes in the narrative, questionable representations of events and personages, and outright falsehoods all characterize even the most faithful of efforts to dramatize the past. Although Hollywood has in recent years gone to extraordinary lengths to include renowned historians as advisors on the sets and screenplays of films such as Amistad (1998) and Saving Private Ryan (1999), for example, this effort seems only to multiply the howls of protest from other historians in the academic community. But are historically based dramas and teaching so diametrically opposed? Does introducing commercial cinema into the classroom really compromise the learning process? Like it or not, our students, along with the public at large, are exposed to and, dare we admit it, learn from fictionalized depictions of the past. Rather than buck the tide, this book offers a useful and engaging tool for history teachers in navigating one's way through this dilemma.	1
Editor Donald F. Stevens opens this diverse collection of essays with a rather provocative proposition. Historians, he suggests, are not so fundamentally different from film directors. As recreators of the past, both inevitably—indeed, necessarily—use poetic license to weave a believable narrative for their respective audiences. "Do we not do the same thing in our own minds (that is, visualize an imagined past based on the evidence) when we read traditional historical documents or narratives?" he asks (p. 6). Both written texts and film are "based on a true story," for both strive "to make the past presentable." Indeed "for all their apparent differences, [they] are rather similar," Stevens concludes (p. 10). Perhaps for that reason alone, films might claim a place in the classroom. But, more importantly, students respond to films in a visceral way that even the best of historical writing struggles to elicit. Rather than dodge the popular appeal of films, thus, this volume offers an eclectic series of interpretations for harnessing film's magical power while setting the historical record straight in the process.	2
The eleven essays (plus introduction) in this collection engage a cross-section of historically based cinematic dramas dealing with significant themes in Latin American history. The chronological, thematic, and stylistic range of the films included for discussion is impressive and makes the book especially useful in a variety of teaching contexts. Of the thirteen films discussed (two chapters deal with more than one film), only two are in fact Hollywood productions (1492: Conquest of Paradise [1992] and The Mission [1986]). In some ways, this is unfortunate, for there are many appropriate Hollywood films on Latin America that students would find accessible. Still, the emphasis on Latin American cinema (as well as Werner Herzog's Aguirre: The Wrath of God [1972]) is certainly appropriate, although it should be pointed out that the four countries whose film industries are strongest are represented to the exclusion of other Latin American cinema. These countries and the respective films discussed are: Argentina (Camila [1984], Miss Mary [1986], The Official Story [1986]), Brazil (Gabriela [1983], Pixote: A Lei dos Mais Francos [1981]), Cuba (The Other Francisco [1975], The Last Supper [1976], Lucía [1969]), and Mexico (Like Water for Chocolate [1992]).	. . .