Besides documentaries like Scars of Memory and News of a Personal War, we will see film clips in class of two historical dramas by the Argentinian director María Luisa Bemberg.

A member of upper-class Argentinian society, Bemberg began to write award-winning film scripts in the 1970s after divorcing her husband of ten years at age 30. In 1979, she wrote a script about a housewife going on strike from her husband, but censors of the military dictatorship blocked the film's production. Bemberg, then in her 60s, produced a different film about a love affair between two married people instead.

In 1984, Bemberg's third film, Camila, was released. Filmmakers had been barred since the early twentieth century from telling this true story of the love affair between a young socialite and a Catholic priest, whose punishment by the dictator Juan Manuel de Rosas brought down his government. It was a not-too-veiled comment on the military dictatorship that had just ended in 1982 with the election of Raul Alfonsin to the Argentine presidency. A few years later, Bemberg directed Miss Mary (1986), another period piece about a British governess entering a wealthy household immediately prior to the rise of Juan Peron.

Here are some other great Latin American films that may interest you.
Suggest your favorites for me to add to the list!

The Last Supper (La Última cena) (Cuba), directed by: Tomás Gutiérrez Alea
Cabeza de Vaca (Mex), directed by: Nicholas Echevarría
Burn! (Italy/USA), directed by: Gillo Pontecorvo
Quilombo (Brazil), directed by: Carlos Diegues
How Tasty was my Little Frenchman (Brazil), directed by: Nelson Pereira dos Santos
Confesion a Laura (Cuba/Spain), directed by: Jaime Osorio Gómez
Camila (Argentina) directed by: María Luisa Bemberg
Como Agua para Chocolate (Mex.) directed by: Alfonso Arau
Linda Sara (Puerto Rico) directed by: Jacobo Morales
Guantanamera (Cuba) directed by: Tomás Gutiérrez Alea and Juan Carlos Tabío
Fresa y Chocolate (Cuba) directed by: Tomás Gutiérrez Alea
Lista de Espera (Cuba) directed by: Juan Carlos Tabío
Rojo Amanecer (Mex) directed by: Jorge Fons
La Boca del Lobo (Peru) directed by: Fransisco Lombardi
El Norte (USA/Guatemala) directed by: Gregory Nava
Pixote (Brazil) directed by: Hector Babenco
La Historia Oficial (The Official Story) (Argentina) directed by: Luis Puenzo
Cidade de Deus (City of God) (Brazil) directed by: Fernando Meirelles
Maria, Eres Llena de Gracia (Mary Full of Grace) (USA/Colombia) directed by: Joshua Marston
Bus 174 (Brazil), directed by: José Padilla
The Motorcycle Diaries (Argentina), directed by: Walter Salles
Romero (USA), directed by: John Duigan
The Revolution Will Not Be Televised(Ireland/Venezuela), directed by: Kim Bartley/Donnacha O'Braian
Black God, White Devil (Deus e o Diablo na Terra do Sol) (Brazil), directed by: Glauber Rocha
Memories of Undedevelopment (Memorias de Subdesarollo)(Cuba), directed by: Tomás Gutiérrez Alea
Oriana (Venezuela), directed by: Fina Torres
I, the Worst of All (Yo, La Peor de Todos)(Argentina/Mex), directed by: María Luisa Bemberg
Bye Bye Brazil (Brazil), directed by: Carlos Diegues
Voces Inocentes (El Salvador), directed by: Luis Mandok
Men With Guns (USA/Argentina/Mexico), directed by: John Sayles