Stages for an Assassination: Roles of Cinematic Landscape in Jorge Fons' El atentado (2010) and Carlos Bolado's Colosio: el asesinato (2012)

Abstract

A cinematic landscape can be interpreted as the filmic representation of a real or imagined space, which complies with a series of cultural functions that allow the aesthetic and ideological assessment of the film as a film discourse. According to Anton Escher (2006), the cinematic landscape is selectively perceived by the audience and can be accepted by it as representative of reality, despite being a production created intentionally. It is not that the landscape represented accurately reflects the way the audience perceives the physical world, but that the receiver trusts the representation. From these considerations, this chapter explores and characterises the functions performed by the cinematic landscape in El atentado/The Attempt Dossier (2010) by Jorge Fons and Colosio: el asesinato/Colosio (2012) by Carlos Bolado, two Mexican films that address political crimes from distinct aesthetic perspectives. In both films, representational spaces play a pivotal role in the reconstruction of historical events and, at the same time, are key elements that contribute to communicating the uncertainty about these historical moments that form part of an unresolved shared collective memory.