Cultural nationalism and indigenism in Mexican murals and screens

reflections on the representations of indigenous people in the film Rio Escondido (1947), by Emílio Fernández

Abstract

In this article, we propose to analyze the representations of indigenous people and the spaces attributed to them in the Mexican film Rio Escondido (1947). Directed by Emílio Fernández and photographed by Gabriel Figueroa, Rio Escondido tells the story of Rosaura, a rural teacher who responds to the presidential call to bring education to a remote indigenous village. Aiming at the development of the analysis, we will focus on the filmic work, also considering the political-cultural context in which the source is inserted and the rich dialogue that marks the visual arts and Mexican national representations. Specifically about this dialogue, Diego Rivera's mural, Epopeya del pueblo mexicana, present in the film narrative, will also be the target of our reflections. We will base ourselves on theoretical-methodological discussions focused on the national identity of the Mexican case and on the analysis of cinematographic images. We start from the understanding that, despite the relevance attributed to indigenous peoples in the Mexican sociocultural formation and in the arts from the 1920s to the 1940s, visual representations assign them roles that place them on the margins, as supporting and passive ones.