In these 4-paragraph forum posts, you’ll share your analysis of the cultural and historical significance of Latin American films. To give you more flexibility, there are six choices of films to analyze spread throughout the semester. The number of posts required varies by grade contract (4 for “A”, 3 for “B”, 2 for “C” Contracts)

In completing a film critique, students will:

1. Evaluate  a Latin American director’s representation of regional history, social hierarchies, and culture, emphasizing how the film reflects the director’s point of view.  
2. Analyze a short film clip, explaining how the director uses framing, lighting, music, dialogue, and/or editing to communicate a central idea.
3. Make an argument drawing on specific examples from our course readings explaining the historical context for the film.
4. Communicate clearly in a public, digital format.

Film Critique Specifications

All film critique forum posts must be posted to Moodle before the class session where we discuss the film. This assignment is time sensitive because we’ll have a better group discussion when you’ve worked through your ideas in advance.

Start with a title that communicates your main idea

Embed the 30-90 second film clip at the top of your forum post. (Exception: The Motorcycle Diaries doesn’t allow you to create a clip, so you don’t have to do it for that movie).

You can follow the instructions below, or watch my video:

• click the down arrow to see the full menu, and then choose </> to access HTML editing.
• Paste in the iframe embed code from Kanopy.
• Click </> again to go back to regular “what you see is what you get editing. You should be able to see the embedded video player with your clip.

Paragraph 1: Introduction & thesis

• Director & Genre.  Who made this film and when? What kind of movie is this – a documentary, a drama, a comedy?  What is it about (BRIEFLY)?  Thinking as a historian, what is your central argument about how the director of the movie attempts to persuade the audience?

Paragraph 2: Scene Analysis

• This is where you’ll analyze the 30-90 second clip from the movie that you’ve chosen to analyze in greater length.
• Analyze your movie clip. What is the director trying to communicate here? How does the director use specific film techniques (editing, music, shot composition, lighting, dialogue, etc.) communicate a central idea? Why is this shot so important to understand the movie/your thesis?

Paragraph 3: Historical Context

• Considering the time when the film was made, what do you think your chosen scene reveals about a particular time and place in Latin American history?  What specific connections do you see to our discussions of Born in Blood and Fire or other readings? Make sure you are not just repeating the introduction in your classmates’ viewing guide.

Paragraph 4: Conclusions & Links to Course Themes

• Conclude with your evaluation of the film, and how you think it relates to course themes including how class, race, gender, and sexuality shape Latin American’s lived experiences.

Make sure to draw on specific examples and evidence to support your interpretation.

Your critique should be a clearly structured essay with a strong thesis & topic sentences.  You should have minimal grammatical errors.

As always, you must include citations to give full credit to all sources of outside information.

Film Critique Options & Due Dates

• You cannot CAN critique the film you’re presenting for your Latin American Voices group project.
• Everyone has to write at least one film critique (2 for the A Contract) before Spring Break.
• Your film critique must be posted before class on the day indicated below.

Film Critique Rubric

Film Critique Resources

How to create and share a clip in Kanopy

UNC Writing Center Film Analysis Guide

Oxford Royale “7 Ways to Watch Films More Critically”