Killing Trotsky, Reviving Mercader

Abstract

This essay examines the historical portrayal of the assassination of Leon Trotsky, and the figure of his killer, Ramon Mercader, in three different forms: the films, El elegido (Chavarrías, 2016) and The Assassination of Trotsky (Losey, 1972), and the novel, The Man Who Loves Dogs (Padura, 2009). The author argues that historical movies have been the most popular genre of cinema since the invention of the medium, and that historians have a particular responsibility in rigorously interrogating them. In this essay, he proposes a triangulation of sources in order to carry out his analysis through the contrast he develops between them.