One question many people have raised after seeing Encanto is whether the armed conflict that forced Alma and Pedro to flee is based on real-life events from Colombia's history. However, while the conflict in the Encanto village is an important part of its story, it takes a back seat until Abuela's flashback at the end of the film. It's also never given a specific name, which makes this question somewhat difficult to answer. However, there are some clues in Encanto's Colombian setting that help narrow down the actual historical events on which the movie is based.
Encanto has received a largely positive reception for its portrayal of Colombia that's rich and realistic in the right ways in everything from its core themes to details of architecture, cuisine, music, and clothing. With all these real-life Colombian influences in Encanto, it's natural to wonder which armed conflict the film features in its backstory. Based on context clues, the conflict being referenced is probably the Thousand Days War. Some theories have also suggested that it could be La Violencia, but this would have to be a more metaphorical reference rather than a literal one, since the film's setting wouldn't quite line up.
Encanto Takes Place During A Civil War
Based on key details in Encanto, such as the characters' dress, the type of camera used for the family photo, and Bruno's home entertainment set-up inside the walls of Casita, Encanto's time period setting is approximately the 1950s. This would then place Alma and Pedro's backstory around the turn of the century, when the real-life Thousand Days War was taking place. This conflict, which ran from the 17th of October 1899 to the 21st of November 1902, was the product of civil unrest in which liberal and conservative groups fought to enact a decentralized or centralized government, respectively.
Over the course of these three years, many towns and villages were ransacked, and their residents were displaced as refugees/ This aligns with the experiences of Pedro, Alma, and the rest of the Encanto village. Similarly, La Violencia was a civil war rooted in conservative vs. liberal ideology and messy elections, which lasted for ten years from 1948 to 1958. It's unlikely, then, that the story of Abuela and Mirabel's grandfather in Encanto is meant to represent this conflict literally. The time period is wrong, for starters.
Plus, if the Encanto writers had intended the conflict to directly be La Violencia, they'd no doubt have referred to it by name given the accuracy to Columbian culture and history in other areas. However, given that La Violencia could have been going on around the same time as the creation of the Encanto village, it's still a meaningful reference to understand. Indeed, both La Violencia and the Thousand Days War, given their relevance to Colombian history, symbolically serve as the poignant connection between Abuela and the younger Madrigal generations.
The Civil War Background Makes Abuela Easier To Empathize With
Encanto's Abuela going to extreme measures to ensure the Madrigals stayed strong makes much more sense when it was made clear what Abuela had lost in order to become the protector of not just their family, but an entire community of civil war refugees. From a contemporary perspective, actions like shunning the discord-sewing Bruno seem incredibly harsh — the Encanto song "We Don't Talk About Bruno" is essentially about gaslighting neurodiversity. Abuela outcasts Bruno for the perceived risks posed by his unique powers of foresight.
She's convinced that Bruno created, instead of simply predicted, the dark outcomes of his prophecies. However, considering Abuela's background and her role as the community's protector, she was simply doing what she thought was necessary in order to protect the entire Encanto village from further violence. As Encanto clarifies in the last act, this is no excuse for how she treated Bruno — but it does explain not only why Abuela shunned Bruno, but why she has such high standards for the Madrigals. After having experienced the horrors of civil war, Abuela hopes that the next generation's mastery of their powers can save them from the same fate.
Indeed, Encanto's genius is in how it tackles intergenerational trauma and contextualizes it with family history. Not that it excuses Abuela's actions, but the context of growing up in a violent and bloody civil war does demystify her unfounded fears about Bruno somewhat. More importantly, it provides context on just why she was willing to go to such extreme lengths to keep the Madrigals as pillars of the community — she's experienced firsthand just how dangerous things can be when people who aren't the magical family are in charge.
Does this excuse Abuela? No, but understanding that she's trying to keep together the entire Encanto village makes her paranoia easier to empathize with. Overall, Encanto does a good job of balancing its portrayal of true, violent history with a vibrant and detailed story filled with joy and love, all of which is rooted in a thoughtfully-crafted, authentic rendering of Colombia.
Other Disney Movies That Depict Real-Life Conflicts
Encanto is a great leap in animated, musical storytelling, but it certainly wasn't the first Disney movie that tackled conflicts in the real world. Some Disney Classics that have come before the Encanto village were based in historical violence as well, such as the war between Chinese and Mongolian forces portrayed in Mulan. Apart from retelling Chinese history, Mulan also tackled and broke gender stereotypes, which made it groundbreaking at the time. There's also Tarzan, which not only dove deep into the effects of Britain's invasion of West Africa, but was also an unflinchingly accurate assessment of human society's conflicted relationship with the wild.
In relation to this, Disney creatives also worked with Oceanic Story Trust to ensure that Moana accurately represented Polynesian culture. By conferring with similar experts, Disney also succeeded in properly adapting Southeast Asian culture in Raya and the Last Dragon. Encanto was also possible through the help of Colombian academics who worked alongside Disney's writing team to assure the movie's authenticity. Indeed, the Encanto village isn't just the home of the Madrigals - it represents the evolution of Disney's long history of depicting real-life conflicts, historical events, and indigenous cultures in the 21st century.
