Specters in the Paraguayan Woods: The Grammar of Secrecy in Hugo Giménez’s Matar a un muerto (2019)

Abstract

ABSTRACT This article examines Hugo Giménez’s Matar a un muerto (2019), set in 1978 during the Paraguayan and Argentine dictatorships. I contextualize the film in post-dictatorial cinema. My close reading strays from memory studies, often privileged in studies of Southern Cone post-dictatorial cultural productions. Instead, I delve into how the film engages with the political thriller, a genre originated in North America becoming more and more practiced in Latin America. I introduce what I call the genre’s grammar of secrecy, a way of picturing secrets through prepositions of space. I focus on how this thriller spatializes languages and politics, specters, and secrets in the Paraguayan woods, to portray state-sponsored forced disappearance. Following Taussig’s “public secrets,” I theorize what I call precarious secrets, distinctive to Latin American political thrillers, showcasing other works in the genre with shared elements. Finally, I consider political implications of the representation of secrecy and specters.