 Feature films and documentaries offer an excellent medium to understand the history, politics and culture of Latin America and the Caribbean. In the early 20th century, the film industries of Argentina, Brazil, Cuba and Mexico began producing motion pictures that captured their social and political realities. And Latin America has produced some of the finest movies and my list of favorites is long, but there are a few films that I continue to use for the unique portrayal of specific historical moments. So here's my list of five favorite movies about modern Latin America. No is an award-winning Chilean film that was released in 2012. It was nominated for the best foreign-language film Oscar in 2013. Chilean filmmaker Pablo Lorraine won the Art Cinema Award for Best Director at the Cannes Film Festival and Mexican actor Gail Garcia Bernal won the Best Actor Award at the Abu Dhabi Film Festival in 2012. The movie is based on a historical event. In 1988, after being in power for 15 years, the Chilean dictator Agosto Pinochet called for a referendum under international pressure. A plebiscite was held to decide whether Pinochet should continue to stay in power for another eight years or whether there should be an open democratic presidential election the following year. So this film captures the advertising tactics in the political campaigns for that referendum. These campaigns took place in 27 nights of TV advertisements in which each side had 15 minutes per night to present its point of view. Pinochet's government controlled the media and their yes campaign incorporated positive economic data and some humor in their commercials and most Chileans assumed that the referendum would be rigged in favor of Pinochet. This movie dramatizes the no campaign. Initially, the no campaign was created by artists and activists who themselves had suffered under the military dictatorship and their campaign focused on raising awareness of the government's atrocities and overloaded Chileans with horrifying images of tanks, bombings and abused political prisoners. Very quickly they learned that their negative approach only generated more fear which could lead to voter abstention. So finally the no faction approached a very successful publicist and Gail Garcia Bernal plays the role of this publicist who borrowed images from American pop culture and created a campaign with an uplifting message of rainbows and happiness and hope to encourage people to get out and vote. So on the day of the referendum it seemed that the yes vote had the leap but the final result turned out to be on the side of the no campaign. And so the film ends with the historical footage of Pinochet handing over power to the newly elected president. The film is very entertaining and can be seen as an underdog story about pitting hope against repression. Motorcycle Diaries. This is a biopic about Che Guevara. It was released in 2004 and the movie is based on Che Guevara's trip diary about his road trip across South America. In 1952 Che and his friend Alberto Granado left Buenos Aires on a motorcycle and traveled for eight months from Argentina through Chile, Peru and Colombia to Venezuela. And the cinematography of the snow-capped mountains, lush green forest, macho pechu and deserts is visually stunning. And one of the reasons I like to use this film to teach about Latin America is that many of the social conditions and problems shown in the film exist even today. It's really heartbreaking but that's what makes this movie relevant even today. The scenes in the leper colony were filmed in the same San Pablo leper colony that Che himself had visited. Now this is a wonderful road trip film about friendship and it captures the pristine state of idealism and compassion for the poor in the young, pre-revolutionary Che. Mexican actor Gael Garcia Bernal plays the role of Che and the movie was directed by Walter Salas, a Brazilian director. The film was an international co-production among production companies from Argentina, Chile, Peru, France, Germany, the UK and the United States. Guantanamera was released in 1995 and was directed by Cuba's most famous director, Thomas Gutierrez Alea. This was Gutierrez's last film. He died one year later in 1996. The film is named after the song Guantanamera, perhaps the best known Cuban song. It's a lovely road movie, a romantic comedy about life in Cuba during the special period in the time of peace and the special period refers to the economic crisis in Cuba that began in 1990 after the collapse of the Soviet Union. Soviet aid to Cuba had ended and there were severe shortages of food, gasoline, diesel and Cubans were forced to live without many goods and services. The male protagonist for example was an engineer under the Soviet supported regime and in the 1990s he had to make a living as a truck driver. So although this was a difficult period for Cubans, this movie in many ways is a celebration of the Cuban people and it highlights their resourcefulness, humor and passion. The director, Thomas Gutierrez was a very close friend of Fidel Castro and he was able to do what no other artist in Cuba could do. He was openly critical of the absurdities and I really like this film because its portrayal of Cuba's transition in the 1990s is not only entertaining but also very incisive. After all Cuba is a Caribbean island filled with life, color, music and creativity and the film celebrates the paradoxes of the special period. Romero was released in 1989, it is an American biopic about Oscar Romero the Salvadoran archbishop who was assassinated during mass in 1980. Raul Julia played the role of Romero and gave a brilliant performance. I like this film because it shows how a deeply religious but unpolitical person was transformed by moral imperatives to speak out against the death squads and government's terror campaigns against the guerillas. So the movie does not focus on the historical context but if you're interested in that watch my video on liberation theology. South of the border is an American documentary that was released in 2009. Oliver Stone went on a road trip across five countries in South America and interviewed several presidents and he made this film to refute the right-wing media coverage of socialist democracies in Latin America. So I hope you get a chance to watch some of these films and let me know what you think and feel free to share your comments.