Search - Macario (1960) (Spanish) (B&W) on DVD

Bravo for this DVD!

Curtis Allan | Seattle, WA | 06/07/2004

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Regarding the film, this is an old Mexican classic released in 1960, a little bit after the Golden era of Mexican cinema, from director Roberto Gavald?n, who also did Flor de Mayo starring American Jack Palance (who performed in Spanish!). For an American viewer, I would say this film is sort of a Mexican It's A Wonderful Life, only you would watch it every Day of the Dead instead of Christmas. Its a good film, with touches of surrealism and good old fashion morality (a la Capra), but definitely lacks the shine of earlier Epoca Dorada films. It shows a slight taint of fifties cornyism as well as the influence of the new medium of television. But by all means I don't want to sour you on this film. The cinematography is done by the famed Gabriel Figueroa, and he gets an occasional chance to shine. If you haven't seen it, you should definitely check it out, especially if you have an interest in M?xico or D?a de los Muertos. Regarding the DVD, I can only say WOW! This is part of the new apparently Televisa-backed Vive M?xico collection, and the production is first rate. The image quality is top notch, it has marvelous trailers for other films in the collection including Ahi Est? El Detalle (comedian Cantiflas' most revered film) and El Rapto (an Emilio Fernandez flic with Jorge Negrete and Maria Feliz), and it also has English and Spanish subtitles, which have been lacking on other recent DVDs. I see that a number of rare classics like Maria Candelaria, Dona Barbara, Bugambilia, La Perla, Salon Mexico, & Los Olvidados have already been released south of the border in this collection, let's hope somebody gets smart and starts selling those up here sooner rather than later. Otherwise I'll have to take a trip down to Tijuana just to buy some DVDs!"

Excellent, thoughtful film about death and power

Magic Man | Brigadoon | 11/27/2006

(4 out of 5 stars)

"In this 1960 black-and-white film, a poor Mexican woodcutter named Macario - tired of being hungry every day - swears to his wife that he won't eat again until he can eat an entire turkey by himself. His wife obtains a turkey through exceptional effort, Macario travels to the wilderness to eat it, and is then met by a devil, an angel, and death himself. The rest of the film hinges on the results of those encounters. The plot of the movie is entirely captivating. The portrayals of extreme inequality, with indications of beliefs about how those translate into the afterlife, are intriguing, as well as the image of death and how his power is governed. After watching, my wife and I discussed at length the implications of Macario's choices, the foil between him and his wife, and the uses of power.

This film was Mexican film to be nominated for the Academy Award of Best Film in a Foreign Language (it lost to Ingmar Bergman's The Virgin Spring). Next year, on the Day of the Dead (which is when the film takes place), I hope to hold a viewing of Macario.

The DVD is basic but fine. The audiotrack is in the original Spanish, and it has subtitles in English and Spanish. It also has a page with mini bios of the major actors in the film."

Outstanding mexican film!

Hiram Gomez Pardo | Valencia, Venezuela | 10/11/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Sunk in the deepest of the miseries, a countryman decides to pact with God and the Devil, with the only condition of get some food for his hungry and impoverished family, though finally he makes a deal with the Death.

This story may well considered a syncretism of several transited roads, but the script enriches notably adding elements of the Mexican folklore. In this sense the film is brilliant because reminding Northrop Frye in Fearful Symmetry, "There are two kind of Cosmology: the designed to understand the world by itself, and those that intends to transform it in the form of the human desire"...The First one is speculative, or intellectual narcissism; but the second is in last instance the supreme goal of the Art, and this film bets for the second choice.

Ignacio Lopez Tarso is sublime in this role. Nominated as Best Foreign Film in 1960.
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