Cinema
Garras de oro
P. P. Jambrina · 1927
Synopsis
A New York journalist investigates how Panama separated from Colombia and what the United States did there. The film mixes reconstruction and caricature: the American president appears in the guise of a bird of prey, and the negotiations in that of a dupes' bargain. Around the investigation runs a romantic plot, and the canal is dug while the country counts what it has lost.
Context
Shot in Cali in 1926 and first shown on 13 March 1927 in a cinema in the city, under a double title that announced its theme: L'Aube de la justice. The first shot shows Uncle Sam carrying off Panama, and views of the national flag are hand-coloured. American diplomacy pursued it from 1926 as insulting; it was censored in Manizales and was shown only in Medellín and Buenaventura. Nothing more was heard of it until a film enthusiast found reels of it in a former projection booth.
Who it is for
Fifty-six silent minutes. Its argument assumes knowing what happened in 1903 between Bogotá, Panama and Washington; without that, the attack is lost.
Prizes and reception
One of the few political films of Latin American silent cinema, and the only Colombian film whose screening the United States asked to have avoided.