'Reflexiones de un salvaje' (Gerardo Vallejo, 1978), an example of cinema of memory from exile.

Abstract

Reflexiones de un salvaje is a documentary directed by Gerardo Vallejo that explores the director's family roots and his own experience of political exile. Through the journey to Cespedosa de Tormes, his grandfather's hometown, Vallejo seeks to understand the motivations behind his family's emigration to Argentina. The film addresses themes such as uprooting, absence, and loss. Vallejo employs a self-referential voiceover to narrate the story, blending his own experiences with the testimonies of the town's inhabitants. The documentary delves into the duality between rural and urban life, as well as the ongoing and recurrent oppression of communities over time. Furthermore, Vallejo uses memory as a central theme, exploring the connection between past and present through significant locations like Cespedosa and Tucumán. Ultimately, Reflexiones de un salvaje offers a universal reflection on the human experience of absence and emptiness, inviting the viewer to contemplate what happens in life when we are absent.