Más allá de una mirada extractiva: caña y memoria en La tierra y la sombra, de César Acevedo

Abstract

Abstract:Set in the sugar cane plantations of Valle del Cauca, Colombia, the film Land and Shade (2015) is a drama about personal loss and ecological crisis. After seventeen years of abandoning his family, Alfonso returns to his old farm to take care of his ailing son, who suffers from an acute respiratory disease. While workers struggle against unfair labor practices in the plantations, the protagonist witnesses the environmental degradation caused by air pollution and soil erosion. Acevedo's debut film epitomizes what María Ospina has called the rural turn in contemporary Colombian cinema—a set of films that dismantle an extractive gaze of the landscape by unearthing its social and cultural memory. However, while critics have analyzed how the film's plot connects to current debates about structural violence and land distribution in a transitional context, this essay pays attention to the film's botanic imaginary. By focusing on its haptic visuality and its representation of plants, I argue that Land and Shade displays new scenarios of ethical interdependence and cohabitation with the non-human: an urgent task in a present marked by the rapid decline of biodiversity.