Mexican films

For the final project

These are either from my private
collection, Netflix, or both.
A free month’s subscription is available to
Netflix by asking for it! Some of these
films are available in streaming versions
on Netflix.
Some are on Youtube although you’ll have
to check to see if there are subtitles.
THE SELECTIONS ARE FIRST COME,
FIRST SIRVED!
For the final project you’ll be reviewing one of the films listed below [or
others by permission] and preparing a packet of materials along the lines of
what I have preparing for you this semester.

1. A selection of readings taken from the text. Additional materials may be

included; you must include all sources-book, journal, website, etc. From the
text selections you should include title, author, page numbers and a brief
explanation of why you chose it {“It’s interesting” “It’s important” “It’s
useful” are NOT explanations}.

2. Several comprehension questions from the readings. You will have seen
the film before doing the readings, and afterwards too, so you’ll know what
kind of information students would need a background explanation for.

3. A 200 word synopsis of the film.

4. A presentation of the film that you would present to the class. This may
be in PowerPoint form, a narrative, etc., and can cover historical, cultural or
biographic materials, depending on the slide.

5. Discussion questions for the blog.

6. An essay question AND your essay, combining the film, readings and blog
questions.
 The Night of the Iguana:

When American minister Reverend T. Lawrence Shannon is expelled from his V

he travels to Mexico in search of his destiny and sanity. t.
http://www.imdb.com/video/screenplay/vi1383006233/
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7igM1QCGR80
El Mariachi:

A traveling mariachi is mistaken for a murderous

criminal and must hide from a gang bent on killing
him.

http://www.imdb.com/video/screenplay/vi3668181273/
http://crackle.com/c/El_Mariachi/El_Mariachi/2448560#ml=fcmt%3d82%26fp
[The 2nd link is to the film itself]

Antonieta:
A French psychologist investigates about famous suicidal women. She
finds the case of Antonieta Rivas Mercado, a Mexican writer who died
inside Paris' Notre Dame in 1931. To follow the investigation she
travels to Mexico to reveal her life.
 Apocalypto:
As the Mayan kingdom faces its decline, the rulers insist the
key to prosperity is to build more temples and offer human
sacrifices. Jaguar Paw, a young man captured for sacrifice,
flees to avoid his fate.
http://www.imdb.com/video/screenplay/vi1843462937/
Cuento de hadas para dormir cocordrilos/A Fairy Tale to Put Crocodiles to
Sleep:

After being abandoned by his wife and informed that his father is ill, a
young Mexican man returns to his ancestral home and confronts the
ghosts of his family's past.
http://www.youtube.com/watchv=mS9TL2fdOrA&feature=PlayList&p=95F4269

Duck Season/Temporada de patos

Flama and Moko are fourteen years old; they have been best friends since
they were kids. They have everything they need to survive yet another
boring Sunday: an apartment without parents, videogames, porn magazines,
soft drinks and pizza delivery. The electricity company, Rita, the neighbor,
Ulises, a pizza deliveryman, eleven seconds, the Real Madrid-Manchester
game, some chocolate brownies and a horrible painting of ducks, all combine
to break the harmony of what promised to be a placid Sunday, and reveal
issues such as the parents' divorce, loneliness, the confusion between
El espejo de la bruja / The Witch’s Mirror:

A husband murders his wife, and years later her ghost emerges from a
witch's mirror to take her revenge.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kbRH7sKnog0

Kino: The Legend of the Black Priest:

An explorer in the New World braves the wrath of man and the fury of
nature to transcend time and become legend in an epic adventure
detailing the remarkable achievements of Eusebio Francisco Kino, better
known to history scholars as Padre Kino. Despite the many obstacles in his
way, Padre Kino's passion for exploration drove him to accomplish what
few dared to even attempt in the New World. With Native Americans,
Spanish soldiers, the Catholic Church, and even nature itself challenging
him, Padre Kino's remarkable endurance and unbreakable will would
eventually earn him a place in the history books and inspire future
generations of explorers to take their fate into their own hands no matter
what the cost.
Su Excelencia:

Su Excelencia is a 1966 Mexican film. A Cold War comedy, it stars

Mario Moreno "Cantinflas" as Lopez better known as "Lopitos" by the
Ambassador's secretary, a bureaucrat from the Latin American
"Republica De Los Cocos" who is stationed in the embassy of the
Communist bloc country "Pepeslavia" (a play on the title of Moreno's
second American film, Pepe).
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xffOWShEM74
Mucha lucha:

The Story of three masked wrestlers in Wrestling

school.
http://www2.warnerbros.com/lucha/home.html
The Woman of the Port /La mujer del puerto:

Rosario (Palma) becomes a prostitute after losing her father and

discovering her boyfriend had a liaison with another woman. In Veracruz,
Rosario lives above a sordid cabaret "selling her love to the men coming
from the sea." One night, sailor Alberto (Soler) rescues Rosario from the
dirty hands of a drunk man.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Yv3almeuD0
Los últimos zapatistas/The Last Zapatistas:

In the year 2000 the Mexican film director, Francesco Taboada

Tabone, began his search for the last of the soldiers to have
fought beside General Emiliano Zapata in the 1910 Revolution.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HnuaEawHiJY&feature=related

Under the Volcano:

Against a background of war breaking out in Europe and the

Mexican fiesta Day of Death, we are taken through one day in
the life of Geoffrey Firmin, a British consul living in alcoholic
disrepair and obscurity in Cuernavaca in 1939.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g9EFkTKx0So
The Passion of Berenice/La pasion según Berenice:

Berenice (Navarro) is a woman with a mysterious past. A scar

crosses her face and nightmares of fire and horses fill her lonely
nights.
Rudo y cursi / Rude and Tacky:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zAMlwcJchoQ
Two siblings rival each other inside the world of
professional soccer

Y tu mamá también /And Your Mother Too [ I don’t have a copy

of this]

In Mexico, two teenage boys and an attractive older woman

embark on a road trip and learn a thing or two about life,
friendship, sex, and each other
http://www.imdb.com/video/screenplay/vi3366257945/
La santa muerte:
In Mexico there is a cult that is rapidly growing- the cult of Saint Death.
This female grim reaper, considered a saint by followers but Satanic by the
Catholic Church, is worshiped by people whose lives are filled with danger
and/or violence- criminals, gang members, transvestites, sick people, drug
addicts, and families living in rough neighborhoods. "La Santa Muerte"
examines the origins of the cult and takes us on a tour of the altars, jails,
and neighborhoods in Mexico where the saint's most devoted followers
can be found.
Amores perrosLove’s a Bitch:
A horrific car accident connects three stories, each involving characters
dealing with loss, regret, and life's harsh realities, all in the name of love.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A5HTBYR7m0o

The Captain from Castile:

The invasion of Mexico by Cortez, as seen by a young Spanish officer fleeing

Inquisition.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VB62g7-H8Kc
Cronos:
In 1535, an alchemist builds an extraordinary mechanism encapsulated
into a small golden device. The invention, designed to convey eternal life
to its owner, survives its maker until 1997 when it shows up to an
antiquarian. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AJJdJJ85Ir4
El esqueleto de la señora Morales/ The Skeleton of Mrs. Morales:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tczHvU25lO4

A taxidermist decides to murder his wife after having to put up with

her after twenty years of hellish marriage.
El bulto/The Lump:
After being in a comma for 20 year, Lauro (Retes) wakes up in a very
different Mexico than the one he lived on. Ideas, hopes, ways-of-life
and customs have changed, and Mexicans of the nineties are
strangers for a man sleeping since 1971. Lauro will have to deal with
the changes brought by the History, and will have to accept that the
future is never as we imagined it when we were young.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HjQsq9HCqkc