Mexico

6

Towards The Battle – Spain/Latin American Competition – SBIFF

In Towards the Battle, Louis, a French photographer, gets lost in French occupied Mexico in the 1860’s. He wants to photograph the French-Mexican War, but gets lost in the Mexican wilderness trying to find it. However, his encounter with Pinto, a Mexican peasant, gives him the companion and support he needs to carry out his quest.

Louis is in Mexico as commissioned by the French army. He holds a permission slip from the French general which acts as his pass to freely travel the region without reprimand from the roaming French army. It’s the only thing that separates Louis from the rabble of the French army. If he loses it, he’d be conscripted into the army, or, if he’s lucky, sent back to France.

Whilst he can escape from the marauding French army, he can’t escape from the Mexican wilderness. As the scenery changes from mountainous scrub-land to deep rain-forest, Louis is (literally) one step away from a premature death. It’s obvious he can’t survive by himself with two horses carrying his huge amount of photography gear. Luckily for him, a Mexican peasant named Pinto finds him when he’s starving and gives him the food he needs to survive.

From that moment on, they become Don Quixote and Sancho Panza-esque partners. Louis is Don Quixote: a leader of a well off background that loses himself in the quest of one of his hobbies. Instead of chivalry, Louis drags a mountain of photographic equipment across the Mexican wilderness in search of a war that doesn’t appear to exist. When Pinto finds him, he’s already gone a bit mad in his quest to capture a photo of the elusive war. Pinto is Louis’ Sancho Panza: a Mexican peasant that knows Louis is mad, and doesn’t understand him (he doesn’t speak French), but happily goes along with Louis’ delusional quest because he’s got nothing better to do. Along the way, he saves Louis a couple of times, and subordinates himself to him to allow Louis to live out his fantasy. The Don Quixote allegory gives Towards the Battle a timeless feel, and gives an extra layer to Louis’ madness and his slow progression to his own awareness which he reaches in the final scenes.

From the scenery to the setting to the characters, Towards the Battle was one of the films that flew under the SBIFF radar. It’s a well made update of Cervantes’ Don Quixote applied to the French occupation of Mexico. It’s used to show the madness of the French in Mexico and the absurdity of the French occupation of Mexico. The French (Louis) and Don Quixote both live a world away from the reality.

7

Black Mexicans – Pan African Film Festival 2020

In Black Mexicans, a fisherman splits his time between two women: his wife, Juana, and his lover Magdalena.

Neri, the fisherman, is an old Don Juan. He’s known in the community for his promiscuity, which doesn’t end with Juana and Magdalena. However, the film focuses on his two lovers and their two daughters of a similar age. Whilst Nero’s two families share similarities, they have different problems. Juana has Neri, but she’s dying from a terminal illness, whilst Magdalena lives waiting on Neri and the relationship with his wife to end. Magdalena isn’t hoping for Juana to die – she regularly donates blood and even offers her donating her liver to help her – but she does want clarity from her relationship with Neri so she can move on with her life.

The other difference between the two families is their wealth. Whilst neither family is wealthy, Magdalena at least has her health to continue earning money through her restaurant. She’s able to buy a new fridge, and isn’t too worried about Neri not being able to catch any fish. Her ability to earn money, also gives her daughter the freedom to do what she wants as she doesn’t have to help support the family. In contrast, Juana is too poorly to earn, and Neri can’t support them, so her daughter has to find work to keep them afloat. Juana’s daughter therefore doesn’t have the same freedoms as her step sister and resents her absent father more for it.

Black Mexicans is set along the picturesque Oaxaca coast within the Afro-Mexican community in Costa Chica. The remote and empty setting reflects the Afro-Mexican experience in Mexico. Just like Afro-Mexicans in Mexico, the setting is hidden away from the rest of Mexico. No one makes the effort to take the boat trip there, except for the rare pair of backpackers. There’s also no sign of any non-black Mexicans here, just as the Afro-Mexicans here are hidden away from the rest of Mexico. The empty beach chairs and beach restaurants show that people just don’t care about the Afro-Mexican community. It’s isolated enough to pretend it doesn’t exist and empty enough that it doesn’t attract any attention.

It’s no surprise then that the Juana’s daughters efforts to make a life for herself appear hopeless. Her father will always be promiscuous and forget about her, her mother is terminally ill, she’s in inescapable debt, and there’s no support from the government (as indicated when a highway policeman says she’s not Mexican on a rare trip outside the community). Without her mother she’s alone. Her hopelessness is expressed through her stoic expressions. She never smiles or frowns, and never appears disappointed or angry. She’s aware of the hopelessness of her situation and her inevitable prostitution to pay off her debts.

Black Mexicans is the first feature film that tries to depict the Afro-Mexican experience with an all Afro-Mexican cast. It does have its problems: some Afro-Mexicans have called out the stereotypical depictions and the ignorantly prejudiced comments of the director. However, separating the director from the film, Black Mexicans deserves credit for depicting a community invisible to the rest of Mexico. Well constructed images and storyline might remind you of Costa Rica’s Land of Ashes or Eve’s Bayou. It’s use of setting and the stoic character of Juana’s daughter highlight the lack of opportunity and support for the black community in Mexico and their exclusion from their Mexican identity.

8

The Crime of Father Amaro (Mexico) – Controversy in the Catholic Church

Crime of Father Amaro Film Difficulty Ranking: 2

If you love controversy with plenty of drama, check out The Crime of Father Amaro. It’s a full frontal attack on the Catholic Church in Mexico which many tried to ban. Whilst it’s not as damaging as Spotlight, it will remind you that all of us are human no matter what position we’re in.

Here’s a dramatic trailer for a dramatic film.

Why Watch Crime of Father Amaro?
  • It’s controversial – religious groups lobbied to ban it in Mexico but their attempts backfired as the publicity rocketed this film to success at the box office
  • To see Gabriel Garcia Bernal (famous for Y Tu Mama Tambien, No, Motorcycle Diaries and many more)
  • If you love a bit of melodrama
  • It was Oscar nominated for best foreign language picture
The Breakdown

The opening of the film deliberately leads us to sympathize with the young Father Amaro (Garcia Bernal). Firstly, he’s charitable. When the elderly man he sits next to on the bus is robbed, he reimburses him with his own money. Secondly, he appears friendly. The local kids run around him after he playfully grabs their football and he chills with the fellow pastors to watch football on TV. He has all the makings of a great guy. However, the melodrama slowly kicks to life as he begins to take advantage of one of the parish girls who is clearly infatuated with him.

There are plenty of omens that something is going to go wrong. Firstly,  you’ll notice that wherever Father Amaro is, the statues of the Saints and Jesus are always watching him. There’s a statue of Jesus that watches over him at home, from his bedside table. Furthermore, the director makes sure you notice each of the saints looking down at him whenever he is in the church by cutting to static shots of each one as he walks down the aisle. Nothing he does escapes from their view.

Secondly, the saints have a helper in a crazy old woman aptly named Dionisia after the Greek God Dionysus, the God of Wine, as well as ritual madness and religious ecstasy. It’s clear that Dionisia is both mad and madly religious. In addition, she also comparable to the witches from Shakespeare’s Macbeth. She predicts the love affair between Father Amaro and Amelia.

The two omens (the Saints and Dionisia) are both critiques of Catholicism. Firstly, of all the sins that are committed in plain sight of the saints and then confessed the next day. And secondly, of how it is interpreted by the population (Dionisia has malformed dolls posing as Saints, and tries to exorcise her disabled neighbor).

Image result for crime of father amaro

Conclusion

The Crime of Father Amaro is another great controversial melodrama from Mexico. It attacks the Catholic Church it’s hypocrisies, so it’s not surprising that Catholic groups tried to ban it. Unfortunately for them, the controversy propelled it to become the biggest film in Mexico.

If you want even more religious controversy, check out Oscar winner Spotlight. However, if you want blatant provocation, check out the Mexican film Battle in Heaven. If you want to see some more great Mexican film, check out our Top Ten Mexican Films here.

 

9

Fausto – Immerse Yourself in a World of Wonder

Fausto Still

Fausto Film Difficulty Ranking: 4

Fausto isn’t like the usual films you’re used to. There’s no main characters and there’s no narrative that you can follow. Instead, Fausto is a collection of mysterious stories and images; some might fill you with wonder and others might just drift through you. It’s all in the name of searching for something bigger than ourselves – nature, the universe, magic. 

From: Mexico, North America
Watch: Trailer
Next: Tabu, Serpentarius, Extraordinary Stories
Read The Full Review
10

Kings of Nowhere – Visit a Sinking Town the Residents Refuse to Leave

Kings of Nowhere Film Difficulty Ranking: 3

Kings of Nowhere feels like it could be a sequel to Once Upon a Time in Venezuela. Instead of showing a small town on the lake that is being destroyed by sediment like in Once Upon a Time in Venezuela, the town in Kings of Nowhere has already been consumed by water. The handful of people that have refused to move live on limited resources at threat from local bandits. It doesn’t look like a town that will last much longer as it tries to survive without the support of the government and other communities.

From: Mexico, North America
Watch: Trailer, Rent on Vimeo, JustWatch
Next: Once Upon a Time in Venezuela, Fausto, Peace

The Breakdown

Kings of Nowhere starts with a man navigating a motor boat through a forest of dead tree trunks sticking out of the lake. A layer of mist sits on the lake, blocking our view of the shores or town. From the dead branches and mist, it feels like we’re being taken through a mythical underworld. Added to the clusters of half sunken buildings we see in the next scene and it’s apparent that this town isn’t one that should still be supporting human life. It has been almost completely consumed by the lake.

The director never reveals what happened to the town. Instead of hearing why it is the way it is and how people struggle to live in the town, the director allows the subjects to tell their own stories. Early on, a ferryman starts laughing as he recounts old happy memories of the town. Later, a middle aged couple talk about a sign from God which led them to start renovating the town church that had been forgotten when the people left the town. Both feel like they’re clinging onto a past that has disappeared instead of trying to start a new life elsewhere.

You also feel this in the tone of the documentary. The slow pace and lack of movement of the sequences embodies the desire of the characters to stay where they are. The languid shots of the town’s inhabitants also reveals their acceptance of the futility of life. The remaining residents lounge around, renovate churches without congregations, and boat across the lake to visit lost cows. All their actions seem pointless. Nothing they can do will bring back the town or attract new residents, which they seem to be aware of. Occupying the time they have left is all they can do to postpone the inevitable decay of the town.

Kings of Nowhere is a story of people refusing to die. Their town is the place where they’ve forged their lives and connection to their happy memories and past. Moving on would sever roots that have grown too strong and stiff. They show the stubbornness of people not willing to change at all costs – after all, home is home.

What to Watch Next

First of all you, should watch Once Upon a Time in Venezuela before or after watching Kings of Nowhere. Set in a town that is being slowly consumed by sediment from the lake, Once Upon a Time in Venezuela feels like it could be a prequel to Kings of Nowhere.

Or if you enjoy Mexican documentaries that drift through places listening to the inhabitants and their stories, check out Andrea Bussmann’s Fausto.

For more languid observational documentaries you should also check out Kazuhiro Soda’s Inland Sea and Peace.