Melvyn Bragg and guests talk about the siege of Tenochtitlan (site of modern day Mexico City): http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b016924x
Month: October 2011
Cuartelazo / Military Coup
Media Type: Film Year: 1976 Who wrote / made it : Alberto Isaac Plot summary: “Lo unico que nos enseña la historia es que el hombre no aprende nada de la historia…” [the only thing history teaches us is that man learns nothing from history…] appears before the opening credits and sets the tone of…
Third cinema
While resesarching online material on Third Cinema for a class I came across this really valuable resource: http://www.dc5b.com/twtc/homepage/homepage.html
Las mujeres de mi general
Media Type: Film Year: 1950 Who wrote / made it : Ismael Rodríguez Plot summary: Las mujeres de mi General (Ismael Rodríguez, 1950) has class struggle as a central defining theme, embodying this in two female characters. Emilio García Riera identifies the character Juan Zepeda (Pedro Infante) in Las mujeres de mi General as a…
Café Colón
Media Type: Film Year: 1958 Who wrote / made it : Benito Alzaraki Plot summary: Released in 1958, Café Colón tells the story of Monica (María Félix), a nightclub singer working in the eponymous café in México City under siege. Again, she is a woman who “[n]unca jamás nadie puede dominarte”, when General Sebastián Robles…
Las coronelas
Media Type: Film Year: 1953 Who wrote / made it : Rafael Baledon Plot summary: Cross-dressing is a source of absurd fun in Las Coronelas (Rafael Baledon, 1959). The film tells the story of twin daughters whose father’s life is saved through them being promised as soldiers to the ridiculous General Nicolas Rosas (Andrés Soler)…
La Valentina
Media Type: Film Year: 1965 Who wrote / made it : Rogelio A. González Plot summary: La Valentina (Rogelio A. González, 1965) stars María Félix as the eponymous heroine. By the mid-sixties, the subject of the Revolution has become tired. Instead of being the great heroine of the battlefield, La Valentina becomes a typical ‘raptada’…
Pancho Villa y la Valentina /Pancho Villa and the Valentina
Media Type: Film Year: 1958 Who wrote / made it : Ismael Rodríguez Plot summary: Pancho Villa y La Valentina opens and closes with a voiceover by Pancho Villa (Pedro Armendáriz) whose decapitated head is hidden away in a foreign, rat-infested warehouse. The film takes vignettes from the life of Villa to flesh out his…
La soldadera
Media Type: Film Year: 1966 Who made it : José Bolaños Plot summary: La soldadera follows the experiences of Lazara (Silvia Pinal) during the Revolution. She is a soldadera, as it is conventionally understood: she follows her partner, Juan (Jaime Fernández) into war and stays on after he dies to cook, nurse, carry arms, and,…