Question about the period in which the film is set (spoiler)

I was wondering how the period in which the film was set, post-civil war, was represented, if at all, in the film's plot/characters. I can see how the idea of fear of the outside and being haunted would tie in. I wondered if there was more. Was Carlos's desertion of his fiancee symbolic, for example?

I give my respect to those who have earned it; to everyone else, I'm civil.