This book has explored fifty years of Uruguayan cinema in order to emphasise the importance of broadening the concept of cinema, and analyse fictions, documentaries and animations shot on film and recorded on video no matter their length and without focusing primarily on whether their audiences were big, small, national or international. Whereas these latter parameters can offer some useful information, making them the core of the study, in cases such as Uruguay, they may obscure the significance of most of the productions which have little or no commercial value. This book has demonstrated that it is productive to take into account diverse and disparate films and contexts of production.

The first chapter (1960–73) explored a convoluted period of Uruguayan history in which social instability and economic crisis prevailed. The most salient tension resulted from the realisation that Uruguay had more similarities with other countries in Latin America than with Europe, therefore contesting the well-established discourse of Uruguay as the ‘Switzerland of America’. This tension would remain present in the following periods as well. However, in the second chapter (1973–85), in which the years of the dictatorship were studied, the focus was placed on the identification of an explicit official narrative, with a strong foundational discourse, and one which opposed it. A tension between the internal and external factors was identified in the third chapter (1985–2000), in which there was a transition into the implementation of neoliberal policies which made it clear that it was time to carefully assess the position of Uruguay within the global world. In addition, the consequences of the dictatorship were to be evaluated. Whereas some believed that it was best to put the dictatorship to one side, others refused to forget and fought to keep that memory alive. As time passed, far from being over, this discussion became more intense. In the last chapter (2000–10) this same tension between memory and oblivion/forgiveness was present and showing no signs of abatement. This situation coexisted with an even more evident evaluation of the role of Uruguay within the global world and, more precisely, its role within Mercosur, which began to show signs of fruitful integration.