POV: Landfall. Directed by Cecilia Aldarondo. Williamstown, MA: Blackscrackle Films, 2020. 93 minutes.

Simulacros de Liberación. Directed by Juan C. Dávila. New York: Third World Newsreel, 2021. 121 minutes.

Full transparency: I wrote the bulk of this review during the same week as the fifth anniversary of the resignation of former governor of Puerto Rico, Ricardo Rosselló, who finally heeded the demand for him to resign on July 24, 2019. Cecilia Aldarondo’s Landfall and Juan C. Dávila’s Simulacros de Liberación both refer to the historic protests that led to Rosselló’s shameful ousting. My memories are also marked by the testimonies provided in the films about living through the precarity caused by the Puerto Rican government’s debt crisis and those responsible for it. The timely coincidence is a reminder that momentous occasions like social movement victories and climate catastrophes are never neatly demarcated, as the themes addressed in the films continue to make their presence felt in the archipelago.

In both films, one protagonist seems to be the multimillion-dollar debt leading to an economic crisis. Mainly, though, the prominent roles are reserved for the intertwined systems of colonialism and capitalism—and the attendant symptoms of racism, sexism, and ableism—as manifested by power players in neoliberal government positions and in the private sector. And yet, in addition to showing the conditions that have propelled what some Puerto Rican studies scholars have identified as a necropolis (Lloréns and Stanchich 2019), each film also highlights a wide array of strategies of resistance.1 Dávila calls them simulacros de liberación, or “drills of liberation.” He prominently features the group Se Acabaron Las Promesas and their militant civil disobedience strategies since President Barack Obama approved the installation of a fiscal control board for Puerto Rico in 2016. And in Landfall, interviewees provide their assessment of the situation, living in an archipelago impacted by catastrophic atmospheric phenomena like hurricanes, as well as by damaging economic policies: at times it feels like a war zone, and yet at other times there is hope for utopia despite continued uncertainty. Both films showcase not only the necessary contentions against an imposed status quo of austerity but also a simultaneous glance at efforts to create and promote alternative approaches to being in community with those facing similar (but never the same) precarious conditions.

Indeed, even though the films center on the very specific location of Puerto Rico, they are ripe for discussions of transnational feminist theory and political practice. For instance, in Landfall, we see archival footage of governmental propaganda about the “bootstrap” economic policy implemented in the 1940s, which would pair productively with readings and films about maquiladoras in Mexico.2 On the other hand, Dávila's attention to the fiscal control board would be greatly contextualized by a consideration of the implementation of similar approaches in Greece and in states like Detroit.3 His reference to the “shock doctrine” could be included in conjunction with Naomi Klein's groundbreaking work and study of post–Hurricane Katrina New Orleans (2007). The concept is pertinent in describing how capital enterprise takes advantage of environmental disasters in vulnerable areas by seizing land and other resources for private investment. In fact, Klein wrote about the particular case of Puerto Rico, situating it in relation to crypto settler practices (2018). One could additionally refer to a variety of recorded Zoom panels located in Aldarondo's Vimeo account, which include a panel discussion focused on Puerto Rico, Palestine, and Hawai’i. In the PBS-provided Landfall discussion guide, there are suggested activities about US-based struggles, like the movement Black Lives Matter, drawing more connections with state-based violence in other locations. There is also an opportunity to discuss the Puerto Rican diaspora’s role in recovery following Hurricane Maria.4

Themes of social movement rhetoric are extremely evident in Dávila’s account and would be helpful for scholars in a variety of disciplines interested in practical applications of leftist theories in action.5 Viewers can see the transformation of abstract politics into mutual aid strategies in the establishment of Centros de Apoyo Mutuo (CAMs) all throughout the archipelago.6 Audiences should note the significance of Giovanni Roberto’s explanation of autogestión, paired with his own writing (2019). In Simulacros, Roberto explains that his model is heavily influenced by that of the Black Panthers and the Young Lords, which once again provides ample space for discussing the connections between different forms of activism in the contiguous United States and Puerto Rico. Yet the specter of the debt (and the illusive austerity) is personified by the members of the fiscal control board and Rosselló’s Secretary of Education, Julia Keleher.7

The economic crisis features prominently in Aldarondo’s film as well. In fact, she not only shows the local real estate agents selling gated community mansions for the “wealthy investors” coming to Puerto Rico in the aftermath of Hurricane Maria, but she follows several crypto enthusiasts (including Brock Pierce) touting the liberatory potential of their technology. These “crypto utopias” are detrimental to the environment, and are also shown to promote the ideology that Puerto Rico needs their financial investment through privatization in overtly colonial expressions (Gutiérrez and Solomon 2023). On the other hand, Aldarondo features Vieques residents referring to the contamination from military exercises (and leftover ammunition debris) morphing into a consistent threat of displacement due to the tourism industry. Both Aldarondo and Dávila feature the voices of residents who explain that Vieques was disproportionately impacted both by Hurricane Maria and Hurricane Irma and also by a lack of health infrastructure like hospitals (Cruz Soto 2020).

There are stylistic differences between both films, but they also feature similar faces. Language and communication courses could focus on the resonances and dissonances between both films and the power dynamics of language choice as a decolonial feminist issue. Together, Landfall and Simulacros de Liberación provide a nuanced exploration of ongoing Puerto Rican struggles and resistance in the face of economic hardship, environmental devastation, and political corruption. The analysis of these films can invite students to engage in broader conversations about power, resistance, and the pursuit of alternative, equitable futures.

1 Hilda Lloréns and Maritza Stanchich focus on the lethal effects of environmental degradation in combination with colonial racial capitalism in Puerto Rico, specifically in the case of water quality in the aftermath of Hurricane Maria.

2 Refer to the work of Melissa Wright (2011) and the film Maquilapolis (2006) by Vicki Funari and Sergio de la Torre for critical considerations of gender, race, and maquiladoras.

3 Ed Morales provides some of this tracing in chapter 5 of Fantasy Island: Colonialism, Exploitation, and the Betrayal of Puerto Rico (2019).

4 Besides tweeting (Pabón-Colón 2020), many Puerto Ricans in the diaspora joined calls to organize donation drives and needs-based fundraisers to send resources directly to family members and organizations in the archipelago.

5 In a forthcoming chapter, Aurora Santiago Ortíz references Simulacros de Liberación to explain her understanding of Puerto Rico’s transversal left.

6 Several scholars have written about the CAMs, among them Jacqueline Villarrubia-Mendoza and Roberto Vélez-Vélez (2020) and Sarah Molinari (2019).

7 Several pieces have focused on Keleher’s neoliberal policies (Brusi and Godreau 2021) and colonial contempt in her communication (Soto Vega 2022).

Karrieann Soto Vega is assistant professor of cultural rhetoric in the English Department at Pennsylvania State University. Dr. Soto Vega’s research and teaching spans Puerto Rican and Latinx studies, decolonial feminism, anticolonial activism and social movements, performance, and sonic rhetoric. Her book manuscript, Rhetorics of Defiance: Lolita Lebrón’s Anticolonial Action, Representation, and Reverberation is forthcoming with Ohio State University Press.