From Epic Cinema to Social Cinema: the Metafilmic Universe in Iciar Bollain's Tambien la lluvia (2010)

The aim of this article is to analyze Iciar Bollain's Tambien la lluvia, with a particular emphasis on the questioning of two film genres that belong to the realist style of significance: epic cinema and social cinema. On one hand, there is a critical use of conventional film narratives about colonization; on the other hand, the film offers a reflection on social cinema as a tool of political change. One of the interpretive keys to examining Tambien la lluvia is Maria, a secondary character overshadowed by male protagonists, who shoots a documentary about the filming and who will ultimately shift her gaze toward the "Guerra del Agua". How Bollain visualizes the gaze of the "ideal observer", while simultaneously exploring the violence of the cinematographic gaze and the moral limits of artistic creation will be the main aspects explored in this article.