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The Pre-Columbian Era The Spanish Invasion 17th to 19th Centuries The Revolution (1910-1919) |
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IN NECUEPALIZTLI IN AZTLAN (Retorno a Aztlán)
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When King Motecuzoma dies in 1468, a drought sets upon the Mexicas' land. After four years
the Mexicas debate whether they should continue to worship the war god Huitzilopchtli or
if they have neglected his mother, the forgotten goddess Coatlicue in Atzlán, the land of
their ancestors. Motecuzoma the Younger sends a retinue of priests and soldiers on a journey back to Aztlán.
Meanwhile, the peasant Ollin makes a parallel journey to Aztlán, because his son found part of the tribute to the goddess
and he must return it out of humility. Each party--the royal delegation and the peasant Ollin--finds
Something different in their quest and bring back conflicting reports of what happened.
Retorno a Aztlán is a beautifully made film, full of mystery, a feast for the imagination.
The DVD has a photo gallery, a 30-minute making-of feature, and subtitles in Spanish, English, and French.
Trailer with English subtitles: vimeo.com/36115672 Facebook page: facebook.com/retornoaaztlan
Sinopsis en español:
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KINGS OF THE SUN
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A Mayan kingdom is under attack from another Mayan kingdom, their neighbors
in Chichen Itza, who wield metal swords. When our Mayans' king is killed,
his son Balam decides to flee
across the sea, defying the belief that they will sail over the edge of
the earth. At the Yucatan shore the Mayans forcibly recruit a fishing
village to provide boats and flee with them. They sail across the
Gulf of Mexico to an unnamed land, where they settle and build a pyramid
to their gods. They also encounter the local inhabitants, unnamed in the
movie, who live in teepees and hunt buffalos. The Mayans capture their
chief, Black Eagle (played by Yul Brunner), but against the priest's
counsels, Balam decides not to sacrifice Black Eagle, and lets him go free.
The two nations begin to live side-by-side and learn each other's customs.
When the enemy from Mexico finally arrives, the Mayans and Black Eagle's
people join forces to defeat them. Victorious, Balam gives his people the
option of returning to their Mexican homeland or remaining at their new
settlement, where human sacrifice will be banned. Thus do the Mayans
become
North Americans. Colorful sets and costumes highlight this improbable,
ahistorical sword-and-sandal epic, and a lover's triangle between a fishing village girl, Balam, and Black Eagle
fills out the Hollywood formula. The main actors are all
ridiculously white, though most of the extras look Mexican or Indian.
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APOCALYPTO
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Jaguar Paw is the son of a tribal chief in the rainforests of southern
Mexico. Their tribe is brutally attacked by the elite Mayans of the great
cities and pyramids, who must feed their bloodthirsty gods. Jaguar Paw
hides his wife and baby in a well, but is himself captured. Led up to
a pyramid with his friends, Jaguar Paw is on the point of being sacrificed,
but he escapes, and his frenetic flight from the soldiers to return to
his family comprises the bulk of the action in this fast-paced adventure
flick. Viewer advisory: this film contains excessive, gratuitous,
disturbing gore and violence. Not for the squeamish. The film is spoken
in a Yucatec dialect of Mayan, played mostly by indigenous actors from
Mexico (but Rudy Youngblood, who plays Jaguar Paw, is Cherokee and
one-fourth African).
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CABEZA DE VACA
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The bizarre and disturbing true story Álvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca (played by Juan Diego),
the treasurer on a Spanish expedition that was shipwrecked off the coast of Texas in 1528.
The few survivors were ambushed by the Karankawa Indians. Alvar was then separated from
his companions and became a slave to a chaman and an armless midget. They taught him
their healing arts for some unfathomable reason, and once he learned to heal people, they
set him free. With his new powers Alvar was able to gain the respect of other Indians,
and lived with Coahuiltecan Indians farther inland for several years. One particular friend
was the young Araino (played by Roberto Sosa), whom he had saved from an arrow wound.
Alvar spent eight years in the Americas altogether, and eventually reunited with Spanish
soldiers. He recorded his adventures in the book Naufragios (Shipwrecks), published
in 1555 and available in many modern translations. This film is based on the middle section
of the book, though it isn't entirely accurate. The indigenous languages spoken throughout
are simply made-up words, and the costumes were based on the engravings in Theodore de
Bry's The Great Voyages (1590-1634) which was in turn a hodge-podge of different
native cultures mixed together indiscriminately. Despite the inaccuracies, the film is
powerful and unforgettable. If you like Cabeza de Vaca, you should also
check out Jerico (Venezuela) and
Hans Staden (Brazil). [Note:
Guillermo del Toro was the makeup artist on this film before he hit the
bigtime with Hellboy and Pan's Labyrinth.]
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THE CAPTIVE GOD
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In this silent film from the U.S., a Spanish child washes ashore in 16th-century Mexico.
The boy is adopted by the Tehuans, who name him Chiapa and regard him as a god. When he is
a man, they give him authority over the tribe. Chiapa falls in love with the priestess
Tecolote. One day the Aztecs attack the Tehuan village and capture Tecolote. Chiapa
follows them back to Aztec capital but is captured in turn. Lolomi, daughter of Montezuma,
falls in love with him and rescues him. But the Aztec soldier Mexitli is in love with
Lolomi, and obtains the emperor's consent to marry her. The emperor also condemns Chiapato
death on the sacrificial stone. Lolomi sends word to the Tehuans that their god has been
captured, and they storm into the Aztec capitol to rescue Chiapa. The film reportedly ends
with "thrilling scenes and a smashing finish." The Captive God was praised for its
elaborate, realistic stage sets that brought the Aztec world to life. The extras were played
by Pueblo Indians.
The Cast: Dorothy Dalton - Tecolote Herbert Farjean - Cacoma William S. Hart - Chiapa Bob Kortman - Tuyos Enid Markey - Lolomi Dorcas Matthews - Maya Robert McKim - Montezuma P.D. Tabler - Mexitli
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CHILAM BALAM
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The first half of the film shows life in the Mayan city of Chichen Itza before the conquest. The king Ah K'in
Chel (Ignacio López Tarso) and the priest Chilam Balam (Carlos López Moctezuma) continue the practice of human
sacrifice during the city's waning years. When plague comes to the city, the stars demand that Chilam Balam
sacrifice his own daughter Naya (Lucy González). She is thrown into the cenote, but at the bottom
of the well she finds an escape. Chilam Balam finds her and they flee to the coastal town of Tulum, near the
island of Cozumel. There they live in a small hut until Ah K'in Chel and his army find them. As
soldiers prepare to sacrifice Naya again, white-skinned invaders arrive on giant animals. The rest of the Mayans
flee, leaving only Naya tied up in ropes. The soldier Francisco de Montejo releases her and they fall in love.
This causes complications when the battle between the Mayans and Spanish resumes. Chilam Balam was reportedly an expensive movie to make, but it doesn't show. The costumes are drab compared to the splendors shown in the archaeological record, and the acting and cinematography are lazy, leaving fallow the great dramatic potential of the story. And why did they film a historical epic like this in black and white in 1955? The director only made one more movie before disappearing from the industry. The film was recently re-issued on DVD, but the image and sound quality are not good. Order from gandhi.com.mx or try Ebay. The film was based on a 1942 play Conquista y fundación, by Carlos Buendía Lara, which was in turn based on the Chilam Balam, a Mayan almanac of history, astrology, medicine, prophecy and other lore written in Yucatec language in the 18th century, with some parts dating back to the time of the conquest. The title means "Jaguar Priest" and refers to one of the early authors of the book. A translation of the extant manuscripts can be found at http://www.mayaweb.nl/mayaweb/chilam.pdf
Sinopsis en español:
IGNACIO LÓPEZ TARSO: El Ah'Kin Chel fue un personaje que sí me interesó, era un coestelar, con la compañía más importante de cine que había en México y además, casi todas mis escenas eran con López Moctezuma ¡imagínate! Desde la primera entrevista el Licenciado Orive Alba, que era el gerente de la compañía, me trató de maravilla, como si fuera la estrella; luego la gran producción, las pruebas de vestuario, las semanas en Yuacatán, estaba yo impresionadísimo, y pensé que era una gran oportunidad y un reto difícil porque había que caracterizar -y todo el inicio de mi carrera fue así, de lo que los actores españoles llamaban el barba de la compañía- a un anciano. Llego a Yucatán y me encuentro con Jambrina, con Baviera, puros nombres grandes y gran pantalla para mí de modo que empecé nervioso y emocionado. Me presento al llamado ya vestido y maquillado pensando en mi poca experiencia en cine, pero López Moctezuma fue tan gentil, tan amable conmigo -como a las once de la mañana sacó un tequila y brindamos por la película y por que me fuera bien- que me sentí ya mucho más seguro. El trabajo fue muy pesado, horas y horas con un calor espantoso, subiendo y bajando escalinatas con aquellos penachos gigantescos ... El director era un hombre muy culto, que sabía mucho de historia, de arqueología, pero la producción se le fue de las manos, todos acabamos actuando de una manera muy rígida por lo ceremonioso del asunto. La película quedó muy lenta y aburrida y la verdad, no le gustó a nadie.
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ERENDIRA IKIKUNARI (Eréndira la indomable) (Erendira the Untamable)
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The Purepecha people of Michoacan hear rumors of strange New Gods who ride giant deer and
have defeated the Aztecs, the Purepechas' enemies to the north. Their young and inexperienced
leader Tangáxoan sends the warrior Cuynierangari to learn about the New gods. When an old
woman prophesizes that they must destroy the Old Gods and surrender to the New Gods,
Tangaxoan's right-hand man advises him to drown himself in Lake Pátzcuaro. When the young
man is about to jump in the lake, Cuynierangari returns, bearing news that the New Gods
do not want to battle the Purepecha; they only want gold and food. Debate ensues about
whether to fight the strangers or give them gold, and the split eventually widens
into a civil war. But one girl, Erendira (Xochiquetzal Rodríguez), reluctantly engaged to
Nanuma, one of Tangaxoan's
soldiers, captures one of the giant deer--a horse--and wants to ride into battle against
the enemy. Nanuma, embarassed at having such a strong-willed fiancee, defects to the other
side, dragging along his little brother Tsihue (Luis Esteban Huacuz Dimas), who is secretly in love with Erendira.
In the end only Erendira, her aged uncle Timas, and the Purepecha women and children are
willing to stand up against the invaders.
This film is a visual feast for those who like the bizarre and exotic. It is also unusual in two other ways: First, whereas many films about early contact between Europeans and Native Americans stress the strangeness of the Indians, this film stresses the strangeness of the Europeans. Second, and more radically, this film portrays the men as somewhat cowardly and the women as the brave ones who want to protect their home and children. In fact, most of the men come off as buffoons in this film, and Erendira is truly one of the most unique and memorable heroines, powerfully played by Xochiquetzal Rodríguez. Erendira Ikikunari is based on a Michoacán legend with very few written sources. Director Juan Mora Catlett first learned of the story from the painting La historia de Michoacán, by Juan O'Gorman, in the Gertrudis Bocanegra Library in Pátzcuaro. Erendira can be seen on horseback on the left side of the mural. For a wider view of the entire mural, click here.
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 Detail of Juan O'Gorman's La historia de Michoacán. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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AUIKANIME (La que tiene hambre) (The Hungry Woman)
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Michoacán, year 1530. Tsipa and Hopotaku are a young P'urhepecha couple with a newborn
child. Spanish soldiers break into their house looking for objects of blasphemy. Later, two
friars visit them trying to convert them. Amid all these disturbing events, a mysterious
cloaked woman comes to their home begging for food. They suspect it is the Auikanime, the
legendary creature who long ago lost her own newborn child and now wanders the earth
attempting to steal the babies of others. This film is surprisingly similar to Erendira
Ikikunari: with similar setting, costumes, and face paint. Pavel Rodríguez has made
other short films on Purepecha subjects--Xankuchka Ia (2008) and Kurita
Kaheri (2005), and Tarhiata Tsakapancha (1999)--all listed under Mexico's
cortometrajes.
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HIJOS DEL VIENTO: Entre la luz y las tinieblas (Sons of the Wind: Between light and darkness)
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Two shipwrecked Spaniards are captured by the Aztecs, but when their
temporary escape coincides with a shooting star, the Aztecs take the
blond newcomers for gods. Rodrigo falls in love with Tizcuitl (Úrsula Murayama), daughter
of an important personage of the Aztec royal court. The Spaniards befriend
Moctezuma and attempt to establish an alliance before Hernan Cortez
arrives with the Spanish army. But war is inevitable, and the Aztec
defeat is portrayed with pathos. The film is basically a throwback to
old-fasioned sword-and-sandal epics, with mostly white actors playing
all the major roles. Still, there are great sets and costumes, and suspenseful
battles, making this Spain-Mexico coproduction a decent entertainment.
Sinopsis en español:
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NUEVO MUNDO (New World)
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A friar traveling with soldiers stops by an hacienda to ask for help in repairing his wagon. While the owner,
Diego, is showing Fray Pedro around, one of the soldiers rapes an indigenous woman (Elpida Carrillo), who turns out to
be Diego's wife. Diego attacks the soldier, and the wife stabs him. Diego admits that the indigenous workers are
planning a
revolt, and the authorities arrest Diego and sieze control of the hacienda. The friars interrogate the
natives using the brutal methods of the Inquisition, and Diego dies when he sees his wife being tortured naked.
Temporarily subdued, the natives pretend to be happily converted, but they hide their own idols behind the Catholic
statues in the altars of the church in order to honor their own religion clandestinely. When Fray
Pedro discovers the pagan idols in the church, he realizes his efforts at conversion have failed and he devises a clever
plan. He asks the local indigenous artist Manuel (Juan Angel Martinez) to paint a brown-skinned Virgin Mary to appeal to
the natives, and when the painting is brought into the church, he interprets the "apparition" as a sign that the Spanish
and natives should live in peace. Nuevo Mundo is
therefore a secular (some might say cynical) retelling of the Guadalupe myth, though the film never actually
mentions the Virgen of Guadalupe, and gives no clues about the story's time and place. The Virgin of Guadalupe appeared
in Tepeyac in 1531, but the hacienda seems too advanced for that time, less than 20 years after the
Spanish invasion. Perhaps the filmmakers kept the details vague in order to make the story less vulnerable to charges of
blasphemy. Nevertheless the film was banned by the government for 20 years. Note to non-Spanish speakers: the DVD does
not have English subtitles. There is quite a bit of Nahuatl spoken in the film, but Spanish subtitles for the Nahuatl
are provided in only two scenes.
Sinopsis en español:
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LA OTRA CONQUISTA (The Other Conquest)
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Topiltzin (compellingly played by Damián Delgado), the illegitimate son of Moctezuma,
is one of the few survivors of Hernan Cortez's invasion. An earnest
priest makes it his personal mission to convert the recalcitrant Topiltzin,
renaming him Tomas. Topiltzin's half-sister Tecuichpo (Elpidia Carrillo)
plays along with the Europeans, learning Spanish and accepting Cortez as her
conquering groom, but Topiltzin resists, enduring torture
and brainwashing to preserve his own faith and identity, and he secretly
prays to his old gods. This is one of the most popular films in Mexican
history, and was nominated for six Ariel Awards (won for Best Makeup).
Damian Delgado is spectacular, as he was in Men with Guns
(Guatemala), and Elpidia Carrillo is
also excellent. Her other Indian roles are in La hija del puma
(Guatemala) and Nuevo Mundo (below).
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LA VIRGEN MORENA (The Brown Virgin)
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Besides telling the familiar story of Juan Diego (José Luis Jiménez) and
the apparition of the
Virgin, this film tells a parallel story: the Aztec prince Temoch (Abel
Salazar)
captures Blanca, daughter of the viceroy, in order to forstall further
attacks on his people. Blanca is treated well at Temoch's palace and
learns to appreciate Aztec culture. The two stories converge when the
Virgen of Guadalupe heals Bernardino, Juan Diego's uncle, whom Temoch had
wounded with an arrow because of his conversion to Christianity.
Bernardino shows his miraculous cure to the bishop, and Temoch is summoned
to testify to that he had indeed wounded him. Juan Diego then arrives with
the flowers created by Guadalupe and the image of the Virgen emblazoned
on his pancho, to which everyone, even Temoch, kneels. Thus the film
presents the miracle of Guadalupe as an act of peace between whites and
Indians--but only after the Spanish have massacred what remained
of Temoch's people. Abel Salazar's wooden acting and the phony sets make
this movie sometimes laughably bad, but, as the earliest in-print film
about the conquista, it is definitely worth checking out.
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KINO, LA LEYENDA DEL PADRE NEGRO (Kino, The Legend of the Black Priest)
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Based on the life of Eusebio Francisco Kino, an Italian priest trained in astronomy and cartography who was hired to
accompany a mission to New Spain to create maps of unexplored territories. Padre Kino clashes with Spanish soldiers
and church authorities as he opposes slavery and corporal punishment of the Pimas and Guaicurus he works with. Over time
Kino becomes increasingly obsessive, and his ambitious project of building a boat to be pushes across the Sonoran Desert
to the west coast prompts the Vatican to question his sanity.
The acting and cinematography are great, and the score won an Ariel Award (the equivalent of
the Academy Award in Mexico), but the story dawdles along without any suspense, and some of the actors don't look Native
American. However, this film is much better than
than Mission to Glory, a second-rate U.S. film that attempted to turn Padre Kino's life into a Western.
Sinopsis en español:
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MACARIO
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Macario is a poor Indian woodcutter struggling to provide for his family.
On the Day of the Dead he is disenchanted with the ostentation of the
rich and the death-devotion of the poor. He wishes that just one time he
could eat a whole turkey by himself. His wife steals a turkey and cooks it
for him, and Macario takes it into the woods to eat it by himself. There
he is tempted by the Devil, Jesus, and finally Death, who gives him the
power to cure the sick. Allegory ensues. Macario is presumably an Indian,
though he doesn't look particularly Indian, and there is not much Indian
culture shown. This film is mainly about the rich and the poor, and it
could easily be applied to other cultures. Based on the story, "The
Third Guest," by B. Traven.
Sinopsis en español:
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EL INDIO
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Loosely based on El Indio, the 1935 novel by by Gregorio López
y Fuentes, first winner of the Premio Nacional de Literatura, this film
show daily life in an Indian community in the years leading
up to the Revolution of 1910. A group of white men looking for gold on
Indian land recruits Julian, a young man of the community, to be their guide.
After a fruitless search the whites try to torture the secrets out of him.
Julian escapes, but only by leaping off a cliff and injuring his legs.
Crippled and unable to work, he loses his fiancee Maria (Dolores Camarillo)
to another young man, Felipe (played by Pedro Armendáriz).
This rivalry between Julian and Felipe forms the central plot of the film,
although it was only one of many stories in the novel (where all the
characters went unnamed). Unfortunately the political, revolutionary aspects
of the novel are muffled, as is the role of the nahual (witch
doctor) and his war of spells. Disappointing as an adaptation, the film is
important as one of the earliest attempts to portray the Indians in their
own element, with whites playing smaller roles. We see the Indians at
work and at play, with traditional costumes and a variety of dances and
spectacles, including the famous volador or patlancuahuitl,
in which four men swing around a pole on ropes.
The DVD I have seen (relased by Medialink, UPC 899485001189) has very poor video and audio quality, no subtitles, and a glitch which sends the viewer back to the beginning after the first chapter (you have to start again by selecting chapter 2.) There is another edition that pairs El Indio with Alias el Alacrán. Be careful not to confuse the 1938 El Indio with the 1972 grade-Z western of the same title, starring Armendariz's son, Pedro Armendariz Jr. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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LA CASTA DIVINA (The Divine Cast)
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The saga of a wealthy hacienda during the Revolution. Wilfrido, the
hacendado, sends his son to fight the huaches (outsiders), and also sends his
older, weaker Mayan workers, keeping the stronger ones to protect his own
land. Meanwhile, Wilfrido also philanders with the Mayan women, causing
conflict within his own family as well as the workforce, populated as it
is with
his illegitimate children. His arrogance sows the seeds of his own
destruction. Casta divina intersperses quotes from the book, Mi
actuación revolucionaria en Yucatán, by Salvador Alvarado, the
military commander who liberated Yucatan and prohibited abuse of the
Indians. An indigenous cast adds authenticity to this powerful historical
drama.
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¡QUE VIVA MÉXICO! (Da zdravstvuyet Meksika!)
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This fascinating film is blend of fiction and ethnographic documentary that Soviet director Sergei Eisenstein filmed
in various parts of Mexico in 1930-1931 and left unfinished when the budget dried up.
To capture the essence of Mexico in all its glorious diversity, Eisenstein planned a
"symphonic" film in several parts, each having its own style.
"Calavera" shows people celebrating el día de los muertos. "Sandunga" ("wedding
song") shows a young couple getting married. "Maguey" starts out as a documentary like the
other two parts, showing men on the Hacienda Tetlapayac (in the state of Hidalgo)
harvesting juice from the maguey cactus to make pulque. The narrative then delves into a
story about a young couple, Sebastián (Martín Hernández) and María (Isabel Villaseñor),
who approach the landowner to announce their engagement. The landowner exercises the
jus primae noctis or derecho del señor, a feudal Europe custom that
entitled the landowner to have the first night with any bride-to-be. When Maria is raped by one of the hacienda's
guests, Sebastián and his friends seek revenge by stealing the landowners guns and attempt to overthrow him. After a
shootout in the maguey fields, Sebastián and two companions are captured and brutally
punished. The final segment of the film was to be titled "Soldadera" and was going to focus on the women
who participated in the Revolution, but Eisentstein ran out of money before they could film the final chapter. Upton Sinclair, the U.S. novelist and recent Nobel laureate who was producing the film, compiled the unfinished footage into the movie Thunder Over Mexico in 1933. Subsequent attempts to patch up the film resulted in Eisenstein in Mexico (1933), Death Day (1939), Time in the Sun (1940), Mexican Symphony (1940), Zapotecan Village (1958), and finally the 1979 version which is now available on DVD. Despite its unfinished state, it is still a fascinating film with stunningly iconic cinematography.
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LA SOLDADERA (The Woman Soldier)
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A newlywed couple about to board a train for their honeymoon are suddenly caught up in the chaos of the Revolution.
The husband is forcibly conscripted into the army, and the wife Lázara, with nowhere else to go, has little choice but
to follow him. The husband is killed in the first battle, leaving Lázara alone and desolate. A soldier from Pancho Villa's
army takes command of her, and she must carry his weapons alongside him as he rides on horseback. Soon, however, she loses
him, too. Lázara is blonde and not well trusted by the other women, poor Indians arising against oppression.
Nevertheless, when the women are left behind by the men, they give her weapons and teach her how to shoot. There are
fascinating scenes of raiding wealthy houses, destroying the finery, searching for food and fighting each other over
scraps. There is one touching scene where they come across another band of women, compete strangers, with whom they
peacably trade guns for food. The film flies by with a minimum of dialogue, leaving the camera to tell the story through
striking images, powerful acting, and stranger-than-fiction events. It is rumoured that José Bolaños intended this film
to complete the story told in the unfinished ¡Que viva Mexico, which was supposed to have a chapter called La
soldadera before the film was abandoned. The style of Bolaños' film meshes very well with the earlier classic, with
its black and white cinematography and minimal dialogue. The DVD has no subtitles, but it's very easy to follow the
story, so don't hesitate to check out this fascinating film.
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VIVA ZAPATA!
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Marlon Brando plays Emiliano Zapata (1879-1919), the mestizo horse trainer of Morelos whose passion for justice drove
him to lead an agrarian revolution against the wealthy hacendados to return land to the Indians. It takes the viewer a
while to adjust to Brando playing a Mexican, surrounded by other North Americans who are supposed to look like the
Nahua Indians of a small farming community in Morelos. Eventually, however, the viewer gets gets caught up in the story, which
covers Zapata's reluctant rise as general of the southern division of the revolution, the temptations of authority,
and the numerous betrayals he endured. Zapata is given a fictitious wife, Josepha, to add the romantic interest
expected by 1950s audiences. Screenwriter John Steinbeck also wrote The Pearl (see
The Films of Emilio "El Indio" Fernández). Check out this poster gallery:
vhsarchive.blogspot.com/2010/01/emiliano-zapataviva-zapata_12.html
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EMILIANO ZAPATA
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ZAPATA: AMOR EN REBELDIA (Zapata: Love in Rebellion)
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Demián Bichir plays Zapata, covering the major
events of his revolutionary career plus a fictional love interest with Rosa, daughter of
an hacendado, who sympathizes with his cause and keeps turning up at improbable moments
to help him. Indians appear only as background characters.
Sinopsis en español:
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LA HABITACIÓN (Tales of Mexico)
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This remarkable film follows the inhabitants of a single room in Mexico City from the time of the revolution to the present, dramatizing
the changing fortunes of Mexican society. The indigenous characters include
two maids, Guadalupe (Ali Albarrán) and Genoveva (Norma Pablo) of an elite couple who own the house, and Guadalupe's boyfriend Hilario
(Kristyan Ferrer) who wants to fight in the revolution. By the next chapter, the owner of the house is disguised as a commoner
in a poncho, and Hilario hunts him down. By the third chapter the house has been divided into apartments, and Genoveva is the landlord,
demanding rent from her Chinese tenants. In the fourth chapter, Genoveva is a maid again (now elderly, and played by Aurora Clavel),
but she has learned to read. The woman who once owned the house with her husband now fantasizes that Hilario (now played by Dagoberto Gama)
is now a retired general coming to buy the house. The remaining four chapters have less continuity, with no recurring characters, but
continue to portray a changing Mexico in fascinating ways, passing through the Tlatelolco Massacre of 1968, the 1985 earthquake,
the delinquency epidemic of the nineties, and glimmers of hope for a more humane society in 2016.
El Sueno (1910, Carlos Carrera)
Sinopsis en español:
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Part Two: The Indian Films of Emilio Fernández
Part Three: Films on the Indigenous Peoples of Modern Mexico
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