A Trajetória da viúva heroica, silêncios, luto e protesto na ditadura chilena

Abstract

This article analyzes the work of Chilean filmmaker, writer, and activist Carmen Castillo, whose artistic production is shaped by exile, the repression of Latin American dictatorships, and revolutionary struggles. Her creative work intertwines personal experiences with historical events, weaving together memory, history, and resistance. The focus of the analysis is the book Santiago-Paris: le vol de la mémoire (2002) – Santiago-Paris: The Flight of Memory – written by Carmen in collaboration with her mother, Mónica Echeverría. Strongly testimonial in nature, the book alternates between the voices of the two authors, merging family history with the political events that marked 20th-century Chile. Particularly noteworthy is the chapter “Courir fut notre destin” – Running Was Our Destiny – which reveals the emotional impacts of Carmen Castillo’s escape following the death of her partner, as well as her mourning, her exile, and her position as a secondary figure within a revolutionary memory that silences her. The analysis draws on Didi-Huberman (2002), with the notion of resistance in mourning; Rosa (2013), in discussing the universal model of the militant; Rollemberg (1999), with the idea of exile as an ambivalent space; and Sarlo (2006), regarding the centrality of testimony in dictatorial contexts. It also engages with Costa (1980), whose work presents female experiences of exile. The article argues that, despite pain and loss, Carmen Castillo transforms suffering into a political gesture, turning mourning into an act of resistance and memory preservation.