Tacna y Arica

Renée Oro’s Tacna y Arica is not merely a film; it is a calculated geopolitical maneuver captured on celluloid. Produced during the height of the territorial tensions between Chile and Peru over the disputed northern provinces, the film functions as a documentary-travelogue designed to assert Chilean sovereignty through visual evidence of progress and cultural assimilation. Oro, acting as director, writer, and narrator through intertitles, guides the viewer through the rugged landscapes of the Atacama, the burgeoning urban centers of Arica, and the strategic military outposts that defined the region in the early 1920s. Unlike the narrative artifice of contemporary dramas like A Crooked Romance, Oro’s work relies on the perceived 'truth' of the lens to construct a nationalistic identity. The film captures the daily lives of the inhabitants, the architectural modernization of the port cities, and the imposing presence of the Chilean military, all while framing the desert as a space of industrial potential rather than barren emptiness. It is a rare, female-led gaze into the heart of South American diplomacy, where every frame of a schoolhouse or a public square serves as a silent argument for political legitimacy.