Borges Film – Guerreros y cautivas

Guerreros y cautivas/Guerriers et captives
Warriors and Captives

1990, Argentina and France, 99 min.

Crew
Directed by Edgardo Cozarinsky.
Screenplay by Edgardo Cozarinsky, based on a story by Jorge Luis Borges.
Music by José Luis Castiñeira de Dios.
Cinematography by Javier Miquelez.

Cast
Dominique Sanda — Marguerite Garay
Federico Luppi — Colonel Garay
Leslie Caron — Madame Yvonne
Duilio Marzio— Master Pacheco
China Zorrilla — Sergeant
Gabriela Toscano — Prisoner
Selva Alemán — La Maestra

Synopsis

It is the last years of the Conquest of the Desert, and Colonel Garay has been placed in charge of a Patagonian frontier town destined to become a railroad outpost. His new wife Marguerite arrives from Paris, only to find herself at odds with the strange ways of the “New World.” Amidst a motley collection of emigrant workers, soldiers, speculators, prostitutes, and hucksters, Mrs. Garay becomes fascinated by a young Indian captive. Meanwhile, the displaced natives prepare a last-ditch attack on this outpost of colonial civilization.

Comments

Borges first published his brief story “Historia del guerrero y la cautiva” (“Story of the Warrior and the Captive”) in the collection The Aleph in 1949. It tells two parallel narratives, both attributed by Borges to outside sources. The first concerns a Lombard “barbarian” named Droctulft who joins the ranks of the Byzantine army during the siege of Ravenna. The second features an Englishwoman taken captive by Indians, but coming to embrace their way of life. These mirror images—a barbarian adopting civilization, and a civilized woman going native—are seen as identical stories: “both were transported by some secret impulse, an impulse deeper than reason, and both embraced that impulse that they would not have been able to explain. It may be that the stories I have told are one and the same story. The obverse and reverse of this coin are, in the eyes of God, identical.”

In 1989, the Argentine filmmaker Edgardo Cozarinsky, author of the book Borges In/And/On Film was inspired by the narrative of the Englishwoman and its potential for exploring Argentina’s colonial history, particularly the “Conquista del Desierto,” the wars against the Mapuche Indians for control of Patagonian desert. A joint project between production companies in Argentina, France, and Switzerland, Cozarinsky’s Guerreros y cautivas premiered at the Venice Film Festival, but had to wait four more years for wider distribution.

According to the film’s Spanish and French Wikipedia pages, contemporary reviews were unkind, calling the film “boring” and comparing it unfavorably with Borges’ original. La Nación complained that “Cozarinsky no alcanzó a otorgar a su anécdota el carácter de epopeya. Apenas plasmó un desteñido cuadro realista que carece de sustento emotivo.” (“Cozarinsky failed to give his story an epic character. He barely embodied a faded realistic picture that lacks emotional support.”) A few modern sources have praised Guerreros y cautivas as a Revisionist Western, taking a critical look at Argentine expansionism and its destruction of the indigenous people; but for the most part, Guerreros y cautivas seems sadly overlooked.

Additional Information

Guerreros y cautivas
You can watch the entire film on YouTube. [Spanish]

IMDB Page
The Internet Movie Database features a profile of Guerreros y cautivas. 

Wikipedia Page
Wikipedia hosts a brief page on Guerreros y cautivas. [Spanish]

Author: Allen B. Ruch
Last Modified: 25 August 2024
Borges Film Page: Borges & Film
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