Trujillo's bleating:

representations of violence and decivilization during the Dominican dictatorship in the movie The Feast of the Goat (2005)

Abstract

Among the multiple relationships between cinema and history, the possibility of films being taken as historical representations stands out. In this sense, this article aims to elucidate the representations of violence perpetrated during the dictatorship in the Dominican Republic between the years 1930 and 1961, the period in which Rafael Leónidas Trujillo Molina ruled, present in the movie The Feast of the Goat (2005), directed by Luis Llosa. As in several Latin American countries, the Dominican dictatorial regime established by Trujillo, the “Goat”, was characterized by corruption, human rights violations and

violent methods of repression, committed not only by the State, but also by the dictator himself. In this way, this article uses theoretical and methodological assumptions regarding historiographical research with filmic sources, as well as the sociological and historical perspectives of Norbert Elias, whose set of concepts are capable of clarifying questions about violence, power, authoritarian regimes and the relationship between civilizing and decivilizing processes. Therefore, the representations of Trujillo's “bleating”, echoed through the cult established around his personality and his crimes, will be investigated and analyzed in Llosa's film, taken as a source and form of historical representation.