Libertarias (1996) and Land and Freedom (1995) explore the complex situation
of women militia during the Spanish Civil War. A queer reading of the female
body in these films highlights wartime female masculinity (Halberstam) and
female solidarity. In renegotiating worn expectations of sexuality and gender,
the films question and ultimately redefine the wartime docudrama genre. The
queering of gender and genre leads to alternative versions of history that upend
the very idea of historical accuracy. The female bodies in the films transgress
entrenched binary gender norms, thus creating a uniquely queer representation
of female solidarity in the docudrama genre.