Resumen de Conversion and Colonial History in Icíar Bollaín’s También la lluvia (2010)
Paul Joseph Lennon, Caroline Egan
This study concerns the representation of colonial Latin American history and the characterization of Daniel/Hatuey in the film-about-a-film También la lluvia (Icíar Bollaín, 2010). A metacinematic work comprising historical study and political commentary, También la lluvia has received mixed critical reactions regarding its portrayal of the historical and social inequalities it analyses. This article examines the ambiguous nature of the work by analysing the motif of conversion. It argues that, by foregrounding the contemporary conversion story of Costa, the film sacrifices nuanced historical attention to the colonial past it dramatizes and sustained development of one of its apparently central characters: Daniel/Hatuey, who is repeatedly converted into narrative and symbolic figures of secondary prominence, despite their importance to the development and legibility of the work as a whole.
