We admire a Photo of a White Man. Entry and exit of Racism in Chile according to "Perro Bomba"

Abstract

The film Perro Bomba (2019) represents how racism enters social discourse and how an affected subject can flee discrimination. The protagonist discusses the regime of ethnocentric visibility, postulating that photography with images of whites has played an important role in racism. At the same time, the narrative sequence marks the Chilean and Haitian discrimination, which end up throwing the main character into a squat, where there really is a community, which is not afraid to face the laws of the country and which constitutes the only refuge against racism. The film not only represents this exit from racism, but also that it itself is not racist in that it exposes and values the Haitian heritage in Chile. In relation to heritage, the sound of the film makes us listen to Creole and Haitian music and, with respect to the image, allows us to visualize other forms of physical self-representation, where braids and dances are a central part of beauty. Given this exaltation of heritage, the film not only turns migration into a theme, but also makes the sound and visual signifiers of Chilean cinema migrate towards Haitian materialities in Chile.