La Patagonia rebelde (1974) aka Rebellion in Patagonia

Based on the true story of the suppressed socialist uprising in 1920s Patagonia, Héctor Olivera's Rebellion in Patagonia is a searing classic of political cinema. Antonio Soto is a union leader in the Argentine province of Santa Cruz. Emboldened by the success of the hotel worker's strike, the union decides they need to widen their focus and empower the rural workers. A general strike is launched, and they bring the bourgeois landowners to their knees, forcing them into an agreement for living wages and safe working conditions. But when the landowners renege on the agreement, and another strike is launched, the government sends the military in to brutally suppress it. Olivera brings this tragic story to life with an impassioned cinematic energy and rousing emotion, and his recreation of 1920s Argentina is seeped in atmosphere and style. However, Rebellion in Patagonia, when compared to other political films coming out of Latin America at the time is more New Hollywood in style than it is, say, Glauber Rocha; there is a strong use of genre elements here, but like the films of Alan J. Pakula, an emphasis on entertainment does not detract from the film's important political message. Olivera, who also made B-movies for Roger Corman, and many mainstream Argentine blockbusters, says that elements of popular cinema help to "subsidize" the political messages, and draws in audiences who otherwise would not be so keen on such topics. Make no mistake, though, Olivera does not pull any punches; the massacres depicted in the last third are blood-curdling and horrific, and he does not sugar-coat the film's ultimate message of social justice and worker's rights. When Rebellion in Patagonia was released, the Peron government, which was becoming increasingly conservative and fascist in nature sought to have it banned, but failed, and the film was a hit in Argentina. Two years after its release, the military, led by Jorge Videla, overthrew the elected government and ushered in one of the most sadistic and brutal dictatorships Latin America had seen. This was truly a film that had its hand on the pulse of the country, but also was in touch with the world in general. Rebellion in Patagonia is a key work in the socialist cinema canon.