Wara Wara
Encyclopedia
Wara Wara is a Bolivia
n feature film
, directed by José Maria Velasco Maidana
, combining historical drama and romance
. The film was described as a "superproduction" by the press at the time.
, it was rediscovered in 1989, restored, and screened for a new "premiere" in September 2010. It is "the only known surviving work from Bolivia's silent-film era".
. "A peaceful Inca community is massacred by a group of conquistador
es", and survivors -among whom Wara Wara- flee into the mountains. Later, Wara Wara is assaulted by two Spanish soldiers, and rescued by "a conquistador with a noble heart", Tristan de la Vega. The two fall in love, but are confronted with the mutual hatred between their peoples. Sentenced to death, they escape, and "live happily ever after
". The film's closing scene show "a final prude kiss against the backdrop of a sunset on the edge of the Incas' sacred lake", Lake Titicaca
.
(La profecía del lago), a 1925 film and love story between an Aymara man and the daughter of a white landowner. The film was censored for its "social critique", and never shown. For Wara Wara, he inverted the gender roles (an indigenous woman falling in love with a white man), and changed the setting. The Prophecy of the Lake had been set in his own time, while Wara Wara was set four centuries earlier, so as to appear less shocking and avoid censorship. Wara Wara was inspired by Antonio Diaz Villamil's novel La voz de la quena.
The film was shot in Bolivia, between La Paz
and Lake Titicaca. It premiered at the Teatro Princesa in La Paz on January 9, 1930, and was shown thirty-two times. No copies were subsequently thought to have been kept, and Wara Wara became a lost film.
The restored film's premiere was on September 23, 2010 at the Cinemateca Boliviana's centre in La Paz.
The restoration was the topic of a book, Wara Wara. La reconstrucción de una película perdida, by filmmaker Fernando Vargas Villazon.
project" of the 1920s and 1930s. Wara Wara, like Pedro Sambarino's Corazón Aymara
(1925), served as a "visual register of the modernization of the nation state" - thus, according to José Antonio Lucero of the University of Washington
, "narrating a future of synthetic mestizo
nation building". Lucero also notes that indigenous characters in the cinema of the time were orientalised
and played by non-indigenous actors and actresses.
Le Courrier
described it as a "universal fairy tale
, reminiscent of Romeo and Juliet
's balcony, but which remains closer to Pocahontas
"; it depicts the triumph of love over inter-ethnic hatred. It also "depicts a homogenous society, which has succeeded in assimilating its indigenous people". Yet, the Courrier argues, Velasco Maidana was progressive for his era. Even though the film is "imbued with the colonial ethnic blending which was popular at the time, Velasco Maidana denounces, in his film, the condition of Indians in Bolivia and is concerned with the suffering of indigenous peoples. He raises the question of their place in society, and defies his society's racist prejudice".
Historian Carlos Mesa
, who founded Cinemateca Boliviana in 1976 and was its director until 1985, then served as President of Bolivia
from 2003 to 2005, inscribes Wara Wara and Corazón Aymara within an "avant-garde intellectual and artistic movement" which promoted the role of indigenous Bolivians in the 1920s and 1930s. He describes the film as an "idealisation of ethnic blending", and suggests that it promotes a more unifying model of Bolivia than President Evo Morales
' model of a plurinational state.
Bolivia
Bolivia officially known as Plurinational State of Bolivia , is a landlocked country in central South America. It is the poorest country in South America...
n feature film
Feature film
In the film industry, a feature film is a film production made for initial distribution in theaters and being the main attraction of the screening, rather than a short film screened before it; a full length movie...
, directed by José Maria Velasco Maidana
José Maria Velasco Maidana
José Maria Velasco Maidana was a Bolivian film director, composer, conductor, actor, painter and dancer.He is known for "his ballets and symphonic works, a number of which embrace national/native themes", but also for his films. He entered the cinema industry "at the very start of Bolivian fiction...
, combining historical drama and romance
Romance film
Romance films are love stories that focus on passion, emotion, and the affectionate involvement of the main characters and the journey that their love takes through courtship or marriage. Romance films make the love story or the search for love the main plot focus...
. The film was described as a "superproduction" by the press at the time.
Preservation
Long thought to be a lost filmLost film
A lost film is a feature film or short film that is no longer known to exist in studio archives, private collections or public archives such as the Library of Congress, where at least one copy of all American films are deposited and catalogued for copyright reasons...
, it was rediscovered in 1989, restored, and screened for a new "premiere" in September 2010. It is "the only known surviving work from Bolivia's silent-film era".
Plot
The film is named for the eponymous main character, Inca princess Wara Wara (played by Juanita Taillansier). Set in the 16th century, it is a "historical narrative of the Spanish conquest of Qullasuyu", the Aymara territories of the Inca EmpireInca Empire
The Inca Empire, or Inka Empire , was the largest empire in pre-Columbian America. The administrative, political and military center of the empire was located in Cusco in modern-day Peru. The Inca civilization arose from the highlands of Peru sometime in the early 13th century...
. "A peaceful Inca community is massacred by a group of conquistador
Conquistador
Conquistadors were Spanish soldiers, explorers, and adventurers who brought much of the Americas under the control of Spain in the 15th to 16th centuries, following Europe's discovery of the New World by Christopher Columbus in 1492...
es", and survivors -among whom Wara Wara- flee into the mountains. Later, Wara Wara is assaulted by two Spanish soldiers, and rescued by "a conquistador with a noble heart", Tristan de la Vega. The two fall in love, but are confronted with the mutual hatred between their peoples. Sentenced to death, they escape, and "live happily ever after
Happy ending
A happy ending is an ending of the plot of a work of fiction in which almost everything turns out for the best for the protagonists, their sidekicks, and almost everyone except the villains....
". The film's closing scene show "a final prude kiss against the backdrop of a sunset on the edge of the Incas' sacred lake", Lake Titicaca
Lake Titicaca
Lake Titicaca is a lake located on the border of Peru and Bolivia. It sits 3,811 m above sea level, making it the highest commercially navigable lake in the world...
.
Production background
Velasco Maidana had previously directed The Prophecy of the LakeThe Prophecy of the Lake
The Prophecy of the Lake is an unreleased and lost Bolivian silent feature film, directed by José Maria Velasco Maidana and completed in 1925....
(La profecía del lago), a 1925 film and love story between an Aymara man and the daughter of a white landowner. The film was censored for its "social critique", and never shown. For Wara Wara, he inverted the gender roles (an indigenous woman falling in love with a white man), and changed the setting. The Prophecy of the Lake had been set in his own time, while Wara Wara was set four centuries earlier, so as to appear less shocking and avoid censorship. Wara Wara was inspired by Antonio Diaz Villamil's novel La voz de la quena.
The film was shot in Bolivia, between La Paz
La Paz
Nuestra Señora de La Paz is the administrative capital of Bolivia, as well as the departmental capital of the La Paz Department, and the second largest city in the country after Santa Cruz de la Sierra...
and Lake Titicaca. It premiered at the Teatro Princesa in La Paz on January 9, 1930, and was shown thirty-two times. No copies were subsequently thought to have been kept, and Wara Wara became a lost film.
Rediscovery
In 1989, the director's grandson inherited some of his belongings, and discovered film reels among them, mostly in very good condition. They did not contain the film in its final form, but a jumble of shots, leaving little indication as to their proper order, save for references to the plot in press coverage at the time. The film thus had to be not just restored, but reconstructed. In addition, the precise original musical accompaniment was unknown. During the film's original release, music had been played live. Cinemateca Boliviana, in charge of restoring the film, decided to add a soundtrack - taken partly from Velsaco Maidana's 1940 ballet Amerindia. Certain reels were quite badly damaged, and thus took a long time to restore. This was the case, in particular, of the film's ending, which only became viewable in 2009.The restored film's premiere was on September 23, 2010 at the Cinemateca Boliviana's centre in La Paz.
The restoration was the topic of a book, Wara Wara. La reconstrucción de una película perdida, by filmmaker Fernando Vargas Villazon.
Context and significance
Jeff Himpele, in Circuits of Culture: Media, Politics, and Indigenous Identity in the Andes, places Wara Wara in the context of the Bolivian state's "indigenistIndigenism
Indigenism, Native nationalism, or Indigenous nationalism is a kind of ethnic nationalism emphasizing the group's indigeneity to their homeland...
project" of the 1920s and 1930s. Wara Wara, like Pedro Sambarino's Corazón Aymara
Corazón Aymara
Corazón Aymara is a 1925 lost Bolivian silent feature film, directed by Pedro Sambarino.It is generally described as Bolivia's first ever fiction feature film...
(1925), served as a "visual register of the modernization of the nation state" - thus, according to José Antonio Lucero of the University of Washington
University of Washington
University of Washington is a public research university, founded in 1861 in Seattle, Washington, United States. The UW is the largest university in the Northwest and the oldest public university on the West Coast. The university has three campuses, with its largest campus in the University...
, "narrating a future of synthetic mestizo
Mestizo
Mestizo is a term traditionally used in Latin America, Philippines and Spain for people of mixed European and Native American heritage or descent...
nation building". Lucero also notes that indigenous characters in the cinema of the time were orientalised
Orientalism
Orientalism is a term used for the imitation or depiction of aspects of Eastern cultures in the West by writers, designers and artists, as well as having other meanings...
and played by non-indigenous actors and actresses.
Le Courrier
Le Courrier
Le Courrier is a daily newspaper published in Geneva, Switzerland. Founded in 1868, it was originally supported by the Roman Catholic Church, but has been completely independent since 1996....
described it as a "universal fairy tale
Fairy tale
A fairy tale is a type of short story that typically features such folkloric characters, such as fairies, goblins, elves, trolls, dwarves, giants or gnomes, and usually magic or enchantments. However, only a small number of the stories refer to fairies...
, reminiscent of Romeo and Juliet
Romeo and Juliet
Romeo and Juliet is a tragedy written early in the career of playwright William Shakespeare about two young star-crossed lovers whose deaths ultimately unite their feuding families. It was among Shakespeare's most popular archetypal stories of young, teenage lovers.Romeo and Juliet belongs to a...
's balcony, but which remains closer to Pocahontas
Pocahontas
Pocahontas was a Virginia Indian notable for her association with the colonial settlement at Jamestown, Virginia. She was the daughter of Chief Powhatan, the head of a network of tributary tribal nations in Tidewater Virginia...
"; it depicts the triumph of love over inter-ethnic hatred. It also "depicts a homogenous society, which has succeeded in assimilating its indigenous people". Yet, the Courrier argues, Velasco Maidana was progressive for his era. Even though the film is "imbued with the colonial ethnic blending which was popular at the time, Velasco Maidana denounces, in his film, the condition of Indians in Bolivia and is concerned with the suffering of indigenous peoples. He raises the question of their place in society, and defies his society's racist prejudice".
Historian Carlos Mesa
Carlos Mesa
Carlos Diego Mesa Gisbert is a Bolivian politician, historian and President of Bolivia from October 17, 2003 until his resignation on June 6, 2005....
, who founded Cinemateca Boliviana in 1976 and was its director until 1985, then served as President of Bolivia
President of Bolivia
The President of Bolivia is head of state and head of government of Bolivia. According to the current Constitution, the president is elected by popular vote to a five year term, renewable once...
from 2003 to 2005, inscribes Wara Wara and Corazón Aymara within an "avant-garde intellectual and artistic movement" which promoted the role of indigenous Bolivians in the 1920s and 1930s. He describes the film as an "idealisation of ethnic blending", and suggests that it promotes a more unifying model of Bolivia than President Evo Morales
Evo Morales
Juan Evo Morales Ayma , popularly known as Evo , is a Bolivian politician and activist, currently serving as the 80th President of Bolivia, a position that he has held since 2006. He is also the leader of both the Movement for Socialism party and the cocalero trade union...
' model of a plurinational state.