The Hour of the Furnaces

The three-part documentary made by Fernando Solanas and Octavio Getino in 1968 tells the liberation struggle across Latin America through the example of Argentina. The first part is a historical, geographic and economic analysis of the country; the second concerns Peronism and popular resistance; the third takes up violence and liberation. It was shot illegally between 1966 and 1968 under the repression of the Onganía dictatorship. The film never had a commercial release; Grupo Cine Liberación screened it in union halls, kitchens and back rooms with lookouts posted outside. The film itself contains intertitles telling the projectionist to stop and the audience to begin discussing, which is to say it was designed to be used rather than watched. Solanas and Getino set out the theory in their manifesto Towards a Third Cinema. Who it's for: viewers interested in the history of political cinema, Third Cinema theory and Latin America. Who it's not for: anyone unable to take a runtime past four hours and the language of direct agitprop, or expecting a neutral frame.