Mexico on screen
By Jesús Ibarra
Mexican Film Series
Los tres huastecos
(Three Men from the Huasteca)
Mon, Sep 7, 1pm
Tue, Sep 8, 7pm
Los indolentes
(The Indolent People)
Mon, Sep 7, 4pm
Párpados azules
(Blue Eyelids)
Tue, Sep 8, 5pm
Principio y fin
(Beginning and Ending)
Mon, Sep 7, 7pm
Teatro Santa Ana
Biblioteca Pública
Reloj 50A
60 pesos
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Throughout their history, Mexican films have brought the joy and the sorrow of its people to the silver screen. |
The best offerings give a detailed analysis of its people, the social conflicts and human relations of the time. As part of Fiestas Patrias celebrations, Teatro Santa Ana presents a Mexican cinema series, with seven movies representative of Mexico’s society and the history of its cinema. The first four films will be shown September 7–8.
Los Tres Huastecos (Three Men from the Huasteca) is a classic movie of the Golden Age of cinema, starring Pedro Infante, a timeless idol of the screen and in the hearts of the Mexican people. Director Ismael Rodríguez achieved in this film the feat of tripling Pedro Infante’s image in the same scene.
Raised separately in three pueblos after the death of their mother, the Andrade brothers are very different in character despite being almost identical physically. Lorenzo, in Tamaulipas, is an atheist outlaw; Juan de Dios, in San Luis Potosi, is a parish priest; while Victor, in Veracruz, is an army captain. Los Tres Huastecos depicts the cheerfulness of the Mexican Huasteca region, with its dances and songs performed by the actor/singer Infante.
Los Indolentes (The Indolent People), directed by José Estrada (1979) is one of the most outstanding films of this decade, in which several interesting movies depicting social discord appeared, although Mexican cinema was living in a decadent period. Starring two old glories of the Golden Age, Rita Macedo and Isabela Corona, and by the then young actor Miguel Ángel Ferriz, Los Indolentes tells the story of an old porfirian family, dispossessed of their lands during President Lázaro Cárdenas’s Agrarian Reform, and who refuse to accept the decline of their fortunes.
Párpados Azules (Blue Eyelids) the premier film of director Ernesto Contreras is a recent example (2007) of the new age of Mexican cinema. With a plain structure and a simple plot, the film unravels the spirit of two isolated souls and their need for love. The apparently slow-moving film is filled with rich emotional revelations of both characters.
Principio y Fin (Beginning and Ending), directed by Arturo Ripstein in 1993, represents the resurgence era of Mexican cinema after the disastrous eighties. Based on a novel by Nobel Prize winner Naguib Mafouz, the film depicts the desperate situation of a Mexican middle-class family, struggling against poverty after their father’s death. Ignacia, the mother, chooses to sacrifice the destiny of her three older children in order to protect Gabriel, the youngest, who, she believes, will climb the social structure and bring back the lost fortune to the family.
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Next week: María Candelaria (1943); Nosotros los Pobres (1947); Voces Inocentes (2004). |
How well do you know Mexican cinema?
1) Considered the best Mexican comic actor; he owned Hotel La Ermita in San Miguel de Allende.
a) Pedro Infante
b) Cantinflas
c) Jorge Negrete
2) Fifty years after his death, he is still an idol for the people of Mexico.
a) Pedro Infante
b) Cantinflas
c) Jorge Negrete
3) Mexican film nominated for a Best Foreign Language Film Oscar in 1960; based on a tale by Bruno Traven.
a) Nosotros los Pobres
b) Macario
c) Los Olvidados
4) Mexican actress nominated to the Oscar for Best Supporting Actress in 1954 for The Broken Lance. She was married to actor Ernest Borgnine.
a) Dolores del Río
b) Katy Jurado
c) María Félix
5) Mexican actress who was famous in Hollywood in the thirties before becoming famous in Mexico in the forties.
a) Dolores del Río
b) Katy Jurado
c) María Félix
6) Mexican film director, recently nominated for the Oscar for Babel, directed Amores Perros, also nominated as Best Foreign Language Film.
a) Alfonso Cuarón
b) Guillermo del Toro
c) Alejandro González Iñarritu
7) Mexican film director who directed one of the Harry Potter movies.
a) Alfonso Cuarón
b) Guillermo del Toro
c) Alejandro González Iñarritu
Answers
1, b) 2, a) 3, b) 4, b), 5 a), 6 c), 7
a)
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