Despair in Colombian Films on Displacement – Shifting from Noir Western to Western Noir

Abstract

This article makes an analysis of three Colombian films that deal with the issue of internal forced displacement to present, through them, the possible transformation of a subgenre from the western noir to a noir western. Although some of the main themes and characteristics of the western can still be observed in the wide-shot of landscapes and the fight between the righteous, the criminal and the law, the influence of noir motifs can be spotted beyond what was described for the noir western. The inversion, with more emphasis placed on the noir aspects, leads to a possible western noir which appears as a subgenre or hybrid genre predicated upon a devastating tragedy, providing no comfort or relief to the toils experienced by the main characters, who seem to be unable to turn their fate around.