image001                                                                UNC-CH and Duke Consortium in Latin American and Caribbean Studies

Video Collection/Outreach Office

                                                Contact Information: University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

                                                3200 FedEx Global Education Center

                                                Phone: (919) 843-8888          Fax: (919) 962-0398

                                                Email: LA_films@unc.edu

 

 

LA BOCA DEL LOBO

 (The Lion’s Den)

 

100 minutes

Director: Francisco J. Lombardi

Country: Peru

Date: 1988

Language: Spanish (subtitled)

 

Overview:

La Boca Del Lobo graphically depicts the violent struggle between the Peruvian military and the Shining Path  guerrillas, focusing on the peasants that are caught in the middle of abuse from both sides.  The story is based on true incidents that took place in the mountain town of Chuspi between 1980 and 1983, where a small unit of soldiers was garrisoned to defend the town from attack by the Shining Path. As the movie progresses, the increasingly violent and extreme conflict between the military and the guerillas causes the suffering and death of dozens of the town’s peasants. Each man is challenged to define himself as a man, to justify his actions in some way, and to act on his beliefs.  La Boca del Lobo questions the moral limit of actions used to protect national security in Peru and the rest of Latin America.

 

Pre-Viewing Activities

·         What do you want to be when you grow up?  What will you do to achieve that goal?  What sacrifices would or wouldn’t you make?

·         Name several things you have done lately that you didn’t want to do.  Why did you do them?

·         Do you feel responsible for helping others?  If you see someone in trouble what will you do?  What if it would hurt you to help them?  Do you think you could sacrifice someone else’s life for your own?

·         Do you feel patriotic toward your country?  Would you fight in a war you didn’t believe in?  Relate this to American history.

·         Have you ever felt completely out of control of what is going on around you?  How did you deal with that?

·         Have you ever told a lie to protect yourself?  Did that lie ever hurt anyone else?  How does lying make you feel?

 

Post-Viewing Activities

·         Where does this film take place?  What are the inhabitants of the village like?  How might this film have been different if it took place in a city?

·         Who are the main characters?  What are they like?  Which ones do you like and dislike?

·         Why did Vitin want to be in the military? What about his friend Quiche?

·         How does the relationship between Vitin and Quiche change?  Why?  How does the relationship between Vitin and Lt. Roca change?  Why?

·         How do you think the towns people feel about the soldiers?  About the guerrillas?  In what ways does this change after Lt. Roca arrives?

·         How are the Indians treated? Why do you think this is? Do you think that the soldiers would have treated the people the same way if they were of European descent or were more politically influential?

·         Why don’t the Indians sing the national anthem?  What do you think this reflects about their status as Peruvians?

·         Why do you think that Lt. Roca was never promoted?  Do you think that his methods of combating the threat of guerrillas can be justified?

·         How does Lt. Roca explain shooting the townsman’s cow?  What other things does he do for this reason?

·         Who do you think is in control in this movie? At the beginning? At the end?

·         After watching this movie, what do you know about the Shining Path guerillas?  Why do you think that they are never shown?

·         What actions in this movie do you think took courage?  Which actions were cowardly?

·         Why did Lt. Roca ask Vitin to shoot him?  Why do you think he didn’t? 

·         Did you like the ending?  What other choices did Vitin have?  What do you think would happen if the film were extended?

 

Class Projects

·         Write an essay describing what you would have done if you were in the same situation as Vitin/Lt. Roca/one of the Indians.

·         Research another Latin American country that had problems with guerilla uprisings.  How did that country deal with the problems? Was the method similar to what you have seen of the methods in Peru?

·         Write a report of what has happened with the Shining Path guerillas in Peru since 1983.

·         Research the indigenous people of the mountains of Peru.  Of what ancestry are they?  What are some of their beliefs and customs?  What languages do they speak? How has their life been influenced by modern culture?  How has the government treated them?

 

How to Borrow this Video:

The videos owned by the UNC-Duke Consortium in Latin American and Caribbean Studies are housed in the Outreach Office of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.  They are lent free of charge.  For information on films and reservations, please visit http://isa.unc.edu/film/films_main.asp.

 

Suggested Readings

Aufderheide, Patricia.  Cross Cultural Film Guide. Washington, D.C.: American University, 1992.

 

Degregori, Carlos Ivan, Robin Kerk, and Orin Stern, ed.  The Peru Reader: History, Culture, Politics. Duke University Press: Durham and London, 1995.

 

Galeano, Eduardo H.   Open Veins of Latin America; Five Centuries of the Pillage of a Continent.  New York: Monthly Review Press, 1973.

 

Kay, Bruce H.   Revolution, Inc.: Guerillas and the Illicit Drug Business in Peru.  Duke-UNC Program in Latin American Studies Working Paper Series, January 1997.

 

Palmer, David Scott, ed.  The Shining Path of Peru.. New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1992.

 

Soto, Hernando de. The Other Path: The Invisible Revolution in the Third World.  New York: Harper and Row, 1989.

 

Vargas Llosa, Mario.  The Real Life of Alejandro Mayta .  New York: Farrar, Straus, Giroux, 1986.