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JANITZIO
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Janitzio (pronounced "Janicho" in the film) is an island in Lago Patzcuaro in the southern
state of Michoacán. It is occupied by Indians (the P'urépecha, but called by the Spanish
name Tarascans in this film) who make their living by fishing,
and selling their fish to the local buyer, Don Pablo, who gives them good prices for their
fish. After Don Pablo sells his business, the new buyer, Don Manuel, greatly reduces
the prices he gives for fish. When the fishers object, he whips one of them. In comes
Sirahuén (played by Emilio Fernández), who defends the other fisher and attacks Manuel with
a knife. Sirahuén is arrested, and while he is in jail, Manuel kidnaps Sirahuén's wife,
Eréndira (Teresa Orozco), and takes her to the city. When Sirahuén is released from jail,
he rescues his wife and
kills Manuel. And yet he still feels compelled to obey the Tarascan law that demands
that his wife be stoned for succumbing to a white man. Torn between love of his wife and fidelity to
tradition, he seeks out the retired Don Pablo, who advises him to forgive his wife, since
she was taken against her will. The couple return to Janitzio to resume their old life, but
the rest of the community decides that Eréndira must be punished, and they stone her to death.
Janitzio is crudely made, with overly dramatic music and embarassingly un-dramatic knife fights. It is most famous for featuring Emilio Fernández in his first acting role, before he went on to become one of Mexico's greatest directors. Emilio remade this film in the forties as Maria Candelaria and a few years later remade it again as Maclovia. I don't know why Janitzio is not available on DVD, but it does turn up on Spanish television now and then. No subtitles, but the slow, clear dialogue makes it ideal for people learning Spanish.
Sinopsis en español:
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MARÍA CANDELARIA (Xochimilco)
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Xochimilco, today merely one section of Mexico City, was in 1909 an independent town inhabited by Indians.
Maria Candelaria (Dolores del Río) and Lorenzo Rafael (Pedro Armendáriz) are a poor Indian couple waiting to get married
as soon as they can pay their debts to Don Damián, a landowner and shop owner. The couple and their pet pig endure
hostility from their neighbors because Maria Candelaria's mother was allegedly a prostitute, bringing shame upon the
community. Don Damián, the shop owner, is particularly malevolent towards them,
and shoots their pet pig when Lorenzo can't pay the 15 pesos he owes him. When Maria
falls ill from a mosquito bite, Lorenzo breaks into Don Damián's store to get quinine to
relieve her fever, and while he's there he also steals a dress for their wedding. Maria
Candelaria recovers, but Lorenzo is sentenced to a year in jail. Destitute without Lorenzo's
support, Maria reluctantly accepts a painter's offer to paint her portrait. When the
painter tries to persuade her to pose nude, she runs away, but the painter completes a
nude portrait anyway using one of his servants as a model for the body. One of Maria Candelaria's hostile
neighbors sees the nude portrait and initiates a lynching, complete with torches and rocks
and church bells. Beautifully filmed and acted, this movie is considered one of the classics of Mexican cinema.
Maria Candelaria won the Grand Prize and the Best Cinematography award at the Cannes Film Festival in
1946. Critics complain that the film idolizes indigenas, though this ignores Lorenzo's theft of the wedding dress,
the petty jealousy of a huesera--a "bone woman" or healer--toward a white doctor, the nasty, gossiping neighbors
of the town, and of course the lynch mob that brings about the tragedy. Neither the DVD nor Youtube versions have subtitles, but as with most Mexican films of the era, the speech is fairly easy and worth a try for students of Spanish.
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RIO ESCONDIDO (Hidden River)
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Rosaura Salazar, a young, idealistic teacher played by Maria Felix, is summoned to the
National Palace by the President himself (presumably Miguel Alemán, president from 1946 to
1952, though he is not shown). The president assigns Rosaura the task of bringing
education to tiny town
of Rio Escondido (apparently a fictional place). Upon arriving Rosaura finds the town to
be desolate and hostile. She comes across a pregnant woman dying of typhus and watches as
the doctor delivers the baby. The mother dies, and Rosaura takes in the baby and the two
older children. Rosaura finds the school occupied by the mayor's horses, and also learns
that the horses get the best water in town while the peasants suffer from a draught. The
mayor (or presidente municipal), played by Carlos López Moctezuma, is
violent and arrogant, and constantly surrounded by lackeys to sustain his tyranny over the
town. When the mayor falls ill himself, the doctor, who has
befriended Rosaura, extracts two promises before he will treat him: to remove
the horses from the school and allow Rosaura to teach there; and to provide him with the
necessary medicine to treat the people of Rio Escondido. The mayor agrees both promises,
and Rosaura begins teaching a roomful of children, starting her lesson with Benito Juarez,
whose portrait hangs on the wall, and whom Rosaura describes as "un indio como ustedes."
In time the mayor falls in love with Rosaura and proposes marriage, and she rejects him
haughtily and even condemns him in front of her class. The mayor then becomes more
tyrannical, and when the well dries up he refuses to share the water reserved for his
horses. The boy whom Rosaura adopted sneaks in to steal water, and the mayor shoots him,
leading to the final confrontation between teacher and mayor.
Rio Escondido is one of Fernandez's most overtly didactic films. Beginning with the narrator's history lesson at the National Palace, the film is almost a parody of the director's own style. Many critics dismissed the film as propaganda for the government, and also objected to Rosaura's saint-like perfection. However, the film features some of Gabriel Figueroa's finest cinematography, stark, iconic images that cast that mysteriously timeless quality upon every story he films. Adding to the visual feast is a series of woodcuts among the opening credits by the great revolutionary artist Leopoldo Méndez (1902-1969).
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LA PERLA (The Pearl)
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In a poor fishing village, an Indian couple living in a straw hut find
their baby bitten by a scorpion. The white doctor refuses to help the
poor couple, but a curandera saves the child. Later the father, Quino
(Pedro Armendáriz), finds a large pearl in the ocean that may be worth
millions. Suddenly everyone wants to be friends with the poor couple,
including the pearl-collecting doctor. The entire village celebrates with a party, and the traditional music and dancing
in the middle of the film provide relief from the suspense and tragedy of the rest of the story.
A group of jewel specialists try to buy the pearl for a fraction of its value,
and when that fails, two of them attempt to kill Quino. He flees with his wife Juanita (María Elena Marqués) and the baby,
but they are pursued by the doctor, a bloodhound, and two Tarahumara trackers. La perla is one of Emilio Fernandez's
greatest films, from his most successful period. Based on a short novel
by John Steinbeck (who also co-wrote the screenplay). Steinbeck's fable-like
tale works perfectly with the Fernandez-Figueroa style (too bad they didn't
collaborate more often). Available on its own DVD or paired with another
Armendariz film, Distinto amanecer (neither version is subtitled).
An English version, The Pearl was made simultaneously with the same actors, though it is slightly shorter
(77 minutes). In 2001 there was a U.S. remake directed by Alfredo Zacarías.
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MACLOVIA
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Based on a Michoacán legend told by Luis Márquez.
José María (played by Pedro Armendariz) is a poor, illiterate fisherman
in love with Maclovia (Maria Felix), daughter of the chief of the
Indians on the island of Janitzio. When the
chief forbids them from seeing each other, José María goes to school to learn to write,
so he can send a letter to Maclovia. When a violent, corrupt sergeant desires
Maclovia, the father relents, deciding it is better for Maclovia to marry
José María to protect her from the sargeant. Beautifully filmed, if
overly preachy. This movie probably reflects the mestizaje
movement of the 1940s and 1950s, which sought to integrate Indians into
mainstream Mexican society. This film is more-or-less a remake of Maria
Candelaria.
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REBELIÓN DE LOS COLGADOS (The Rebellion of the Hanged)
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A chamula Indian (Pedro Armendariz) contracts himself to a logging company in
order to pay for
his wife's appendicitis. Although his wife dies before the operation,
Candido is still legally bound to work as a semi-slave in the jungles of
Chiapas with his two sons and his sister. Working under brutal conditions,
the obreros are sometimes punished by hanging by their wrists all night
long. When they can no longer stand such injustice, they rebel. Based on
the 1936 novel by B. Traven, this
film is quite explicit in its violence and must have shocked audiences
in 1954. Nevertheless, it won four Silver Ariel awards. Juan Luis Buñuel
remade the movie in 1986.
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Part One: Historical Films on the Indigenous Peoples of Mexico
Part Three: Films on the Indigenous Peoples of Contemporary Mexico
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