In 1908, the 100th anniversary of the Chilean Nation-State, a nationalist intellectual, Marcial Vicuña, embarks on a journey to support President Pedro Montt's new nation-building project aiming to embrace Chilean settlers and Indigenous people to foster peace. As part of his expedition, Mr. Vicuña reaches the island of Chiloe in the central region of Chile, to meet a couple named Rosa and Segundo Molina. Rosa, an Ona indigenous woman, had endured the horrors of rape and genocide inflicted upon her people in Tierra del Fuego, the southernmost part of the South American continent, by the ruthless employees of the Spanish landowner, José Menendez. Segundo, a mestizo (half settler half indigenous), on the other hand, had initially assisted Menéndez's employees in their violent acts. But eventually, unable to bear the guilt of his complicity, Segundo had escaped with Rosa. Upon arriving at their residence, Mr. Vicuña presents himself: “Marcial Vicuña, I work for the president”. ”What president?” answers Rosa defiantly. Vicuña then pressures Rosa into receiving him and his assistant in her home. Fearing the potential arrest of Segundo, due to his past association with Menéndez, Rosa agrees. Vicuña then meets with Segundo promising to absolve him if he collaborates in the new nation-building project: he wishes to film Segundo denouncing the crimes he witnessed. “Why do you care so much talking about this,” asks Rosa. “To bring justice” answers Vicuña. “Justice?” says Rosa with suspicion. Despite her skepticism, Segundo agrees to collaborate. As Vicuña positions the couple in an ‘authentic’ Chilean staging, they begin filming. However, with her gaze fixed on the camera, Rosa refuses to fulfill her role, disregarding the director's guidance. Vicuña out of his depth shouts at her: “ Rosa do you, or do you not, want to be part of this Nation?”

This striking scene from the movie Los Colonos (The Settlers, 2024) sheds light on how the development of the Chilean Nation-State in the 20th century was based on concealing mass rapes, traffic, and murders of southern indigenous people, followed by their coercion into “reconciliation” and assimilation into the Nation-State. The scene also hints at the intricate dynamics of indigenous and mestizo individuals, exploring their roles as both victims and collaborators: coerced, partially coerced, or even willingly participating in perpetuating violence against their own communities. Additionally, this scene portrays the contrasting roles played by women in the events surrounding Chilean nation-building, particularly through the opposing characters of Vicuña's assistant, a white woman involved in this coercive nationalist project, and Rosa, who defiantly resists any attempts to infringe upon her autonomy in the face of colonial gendered and sexual violence.

Nourished by the tales of my great-grandfather Manuel Rojas, a prominent Chilean author who claimed to originate from the Picunche indigenous people of central Chile, I was curious about this family heritage; in school, however, barely any attention was given to the history and fate of the indigenous peoples. Turning to alternative sources such as books and films helped me realize that Chile was a nation built on genocide that tended to deal with its historical violence by avoiding the subject altogether. The previously described scene appears in Chilean director Felipe Gálvez’s latest movie Los Colonos, in which he attempted to lift this taboo. Described by El Pais as “a stark and violent 'Western' that confronts Chile with its sins of colonialism”[2], this movie raises awareness of the prevalence of white supremacist and patriarchal violence directed at the indigenous populations of Tierra del Fuego in the context of its colonization, which began in the 1830s, the post-independence period[3].

The movie is set at the beginning of the 20th century when settlers originating from various European nations stole the land and unleashed genocidal violence against the indigenous peoples who lived in Tierra del Fuego: the Alakalufes, Yahganes, Telluelches, Chonos, and the Selk’nam or Ona indigenous peoples[4].  In the movie, it is mainly the genocide of the Selk’nam or Onas that is addressed, one of the swiftest and most violent that occurred in Chile. According to the accounts of Martin Gusinde[5] approximately 4000 Selk’nam were living in Tierra del Fuego in the middle of the 19thcentury. This population was reduced to 279 in 1919, and to fewer than 100 individuals in 1930[6]. At the time, livestock companies, in collaboration with the governments of Chile and Argentina, had embarked on establishing large ranches known as ‘estancias’. This led to the displacement of indigenous populations, a significant disruption to their traditional way of life, and the quasi-disappearance of the Guanaco their main source of game. In response to the resistance bravely opposed by the Onas to the settlers’ violent stealing of their land, a joint effort was undertaken by ranchers, gold miners, hunters, and soldiers to proceed with the "systematic extermination" of the indigenous inhabitants through deportation, hunting, rape and forced assimilation of children into settler homes[7].

Los Colonos showcases this genocidal and sexual violence perpetrated against the Onas, focusing on real historical figures, like José Mendez and the  Scotsman he employed to “clean his land”, Alexander Mac-Lennan. Menéndez was the owner of two cattle ranches encompassing over 200,000 hectares within the heart of Selk'nam territory, who became renowned for his ruthless treatment of the indigenous population. MacLennan, an ex-British soldier nicknamed "Chancho Colorado", had greatly contributed to Menéndez’s reputation through the exceptionally brutal actions that he carried against the Onas under Menéndez’s orders[8]. In the movie, we follow him on different expeditions within the Selk’nam territory. Accompanied by his companion Bill and his servant the mestizo Segundo, he orchestrates several acts of genocidal violence: the ‘hunting’ of indigenous peoples, the poisoning of a beached whale’s meat, and planned ambushes leading to bloody massacres. These atrocious scenes are inspired by real accounts of similar violent acts perpetrated by MacLennan and other analog historical figures, documented in sources like the 1895 ‘judicial summary of violations to the native peoples of Tierra del Fuego’[9] and oral testimonies of Selk’nam descendants. It was notably reported that in 1895 MacLennan conducted one of the deadliest mass killings of the period, when he rounded up and killed 14 Onas[10]. 

In the movie, we follow these brutal acts from the perspective of Segundo, chosen to assist MacLennan due to his shooting skills. All along Segundo is tortured by what choices to make, collaborate or resist, torn between his white and indigenous identities and tormented by his complicity. In a ‘hunting’ scene, instead of aiming at the indigenous family they are chasing, he aims at MacLennan and almost shoots him. In the end, Segundo never dares to confront MacLennan and flees to Chiloe. Segundo’s character embodies the complexity of the “mestizo” class, born of the genocidal project to annihilate the ‘indigenous race’ through miscegenation. This project, that Bascopé names ‘civilization-by-violation’, never achieved its goal of ending with ‘savagery’ but rather created intergenerational trauma, torn identities and long-lasting scars[11]. Through the character of Segundo, Gálvez addresses this greyness of mestizos’ position in the genocidal history of Chile delving into issues of complicity, victimhood, torn identities, agency/coercion, and power/class relations. 

Through a critical lens, the movie Los Colonos also addresses gendered power dynamics and gendered and sexual violence used as a tool of genocide. In the scene that follows the ‘hunting’, MacLennan rapes an indigenous woman that survived the killing and orders his companions to do the same. Many early historical accounts recount that the abduction, captivity, and rape of indigenous women and even very young girls by European sailors, tradesmen, and gold diggers were common at the end of the 19th century[13]. With the establishment of “estancias”, the abduction of indigenous women continued to turn them into domestic or sexual slaves, ship them to human zoos, or force them into conversion.  Rape was justified as a form of harmonious miscegenation, utilized on abducted indigenous women as a means to “suppress their savagery” and advance the ‘civilizing’ goals of the nation-state[14]. In the movie, while the woman raped by MacLennan embodies victimhood and helplessness, Rosa’s character embodies defiance and resistance. In the movie, she has been abducted, raped, and kept in captivity by Englishmen, then forced to serve as a translator for MacLennan before finally escaping with Segundo to Chiloe. Yet throughout the movie she never loses her identity, keeps her head high, and steadfastly refuses assimilation.

Finally, through the portrayal of Mendez’s daughter, Gálvez confronts the viewers of his movie with the question of women’s agency and involvement in the patriarchal nationalist system. He explores how white women consented to and internalized the oppressive logic of patriarchy and nationalism and became actors in genocidal violence. In the movie’s epilogue, Mr. Vicuña pays a visit to Menendez. The encounter occurs within the opulent confines of Menendez's mansion in Tierra del Fuego, where Vicuña confronts him to the news reports saying that he offers one pound for each severed Ona’s ear and almost two pounds for the uterus of indigenous women. In the face of these accusations, Menendez’s daughter takes the defense of her father:

This scene demonstrates the contrasting positions of women as victims versus agents in the colonial genocidal process. By clearly stating which women ended up at either end of the spectrum, the movie places the issue of intersectional discrimination and white privilege at the center of its critique.

The analysis of the movie Los Colonos reveals the complexity of the roles, positionality, and agency of different historical actors in the nation-building process depending on their intersectional identities, as revealed through the complexity of the characters and their trajectories in the movie. Los Colonos also touches upon the often less discussed theme of sexual violence as a tool of genocide and its erasure and minimization even on the day of the “recognition of past crimes”. Finally, this movie reminds us of the role that cinematographic ‘historical fiction’ can have in revealing historical erasures and bringing back suppressed narratives to the forefront. In his film, Gálvez revisits the ‘western’ genre, an invention of the American continent, in which the ‘cowboy’, killer of ‘indians’, was depicted as a hero. Los Colonos twists the typical ‘western’ plotline transforming it into a stark denunciation of the horrendous and shameful reality that had been purposefully occulted, confronting us all to bear witness to the crimes on which the Chilean Nation-State was built. 

Footnotes

[1] Galvez, Felipe, and Girardi, Antonia. Los Colonos, (Quijote Films, 2023).

[2] Rodriguez, Andres. “Los colonos’, un crudo y violento ‘western’ que enfrenta a Chile con los pecados del colonialism”, El Pais, January 19, 2024. https://elpais.com/chile/2024-01-19/los-colonos-un-crudo-y-violento-western-que-enfrenta-a-chile-con-los-pecados-del-colonialismo.html.

[3] The Chilean war of independence from the Spanish crown’s rule lasted from 1812 to 1827, ending by Chile’s de facto independence. 

[4] Brand, Donald D. “The Peoples and Languages of Chile.” New Mexico Anthropologist 5, no.3 (Jul-Sept 1941): 72–93. http://www.jstor.org/stable/4291248.

[5] Martin Gusinde, an Austrian researcher, researched the Selk’nam for more than six years during the 19th century.

[6] Gardini, Walter. “Restoring the Honour of an Indian Tribe - Rescate de Una Tribu.” Anthropos 79, no. 4/6 (1984): 645–47. http://www.jstor.org/stable/40461884.

[7] Harambour-Ross, Alberto. Soberanías Fronterizas. Esados y Capital en la Colonización de Patagonia (Argentina y Chile, 1830-1922). (Valdivia : Ediciones UACh, Colección Ausral Universitaria de Ciencias Sociales, Artes y Humanidades, 2019). And Bascopé, Joaquín. “Antes de la Ley. Salvajismo y comercio sexual en Tierra del Fuego y Patagonia Austral, 1884-1920”. In Capitalismo y pornología. La producción de los cuerpos sexuados. Pavez, J. & Kraushaar, L. (ed.). (Antofagasta: Universidad Católica del Norte, 2011).

[8] Alonso Marchante, José Luis. Menendez Rey de la Patagonia. (Santiago: Catalonia, 2014).

[9] Cerda, Ricardo Escobar, Secretario Corte de Apelaciones de Valparaíso, Sumario sobre vejámenes inferidos a indíjenas de Tierra del Fuego, Punta Arenas, Legajo 75, Archivo Judicial de Magallanes, Expediente no. 112, (2 December 1895). http://www.bibliotecadigital.umag.cl/bitstream/handle/20.500.11893/487/1895.%20Sumario%20sobre%20vejámenes%20Tierra%20del%20Fuego.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y.

[10] Alonso Marchante, José Luis. Menendez Rey de la Patagonia. (Santiago: Catalonia, 2014).

[11] And Bascopé, Joaquín. “Antes de la Ley. Salvajismo y comercio sexual en Tierra del Fuego y Patagonia Austral, 1884-1920”. In Capitalismo y pornología. La producción de los cuerpos sexuados. Pavez, J. & Kraushaar, L. (ed.). (Antofagasta: Universidad Católica del Norte, 2011), p. 21-22.

[12] Unknown author. - Photo album donated to then-president Miguel Juárez Celman. The picture is available at The Museum of World Cutlure (Världskulturmuseet) as no 008218.

[13] Alonso Marchante, José Luis. Menendez Rey de la Patagonia. (Santiago: Catalonia, 2014). And Bascopé, Joaquín. “Antes de la Ley. Salvajismo y comercio sexual en Tierra del Fuego y Patagonia Austral, 1884-1920”. In Capitalismo y pornología. La producción de los cuerpos sexuados. Pavez, J. & Kraushaar, L. (ed.). (Antofagasta: Universidad Católica del Norte, 2011).

[14] Bustamante, Javiera. “Approaches to the history and reconstruction of memories of indigenous women in Chile’s southern zone.” Cultura-Hombre-Sociedad 29 [online]. no. 2, (December 2019): 188-217. ISSN 0716-1557.  http://dx.doi.org/10.7770/0719-2789.2019.cuhso.04.a07.

[15] Photography found in the archives of the Pre-Columbian Museum of Chile: http://chileprecolombino.cl/wp/wp-content/gallery/cotidianidad_4/cotidianidad_22.jpg

[16] Image found in the archives of the Regional Museum of Magallanes Chile: https://www.museodemagallanes.gob.cl/colecciones/vinculos-de-parentesco-y-poder-de-la-familia-braun-menendez.