The Hour of the Furnaces

The Hour of the Furnaces (1968)

La hora de los hornos

An impassioned three-part documentary of the liberation struggle waged throughout Latin America, using Argentina as a historical example of the imperialist exploitation of the continent. Part I: Neo-Colonialism and Violence is a historical, geographic, and economic analysis of Argentina. Part II: An Act For Liberation examines the ten-year reign of Juan Perón (1945-55) and the activities of the Peronist movement after his fall from power. Part III: Violence and Liberation studies the role of violence in the national liberation process and constitutes a call for action.

Date of release
1968-09-30
TMDB
6.9 / 10 (33)
Runtime
4h 20m
Genres
Documentary
Director
Octavio Getino, Fernando E. Solanas

Casting

Interesting facts

The Hour of the Furnaces is a 1968 Argentine political documentary film directed by Octavio Getino and Fernando Solanas. 'The paradigm of revolutionary activist cinema', it addresses the politics of the 'Third worldist' films and Latin-American manifesto of the late 1960s. It is a key part of the 'Third Cinema', a movement that emerged in Latin America around the same time as the film's release. The work is a four-hour trilogy, divided into chapters and united by the theme of dependency and liberation. The first part - "Neo-Colonialism and Violence" - is conceived for diffusion in all types of circuits, and is the one presented at Cannes Classics.

Production and distribution

The production of The Hour of the Furnaces lasted from 1966 to 1968 and utilized techniques that have since then been described as "guerilla style filmmaking," and a documentary-like style to convey its message. The team behind The Hour of the Furnaces recorded citizens of Argentina as they went about their daily lives, supplementing their work with archival footage and works by other filmmakers.

Due to political considerations of the time, The Hour of the Furnaces saw an incredibly limited release in Argentina and was primarily shown in underground clubs and organizations. The film was segmented into several parts with the intention that viewers would take the time to discuss each individual section after it was completed.

Read on Wikipedia · Text from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. Data from Wikidata.

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