María Candelaria (Xochimilco) (1944)

Director:

Emilio Fernández

Writers:

Emilio Fernández, Mauricio Magdaleno

Stars:

Dolores del Rio, Pedro Armendáriz, Alberto Galán

3 wins.

Cast

Complete credited cast:
Dolores del Rio	...	María Candelaria
Pedro Armendáriz	...	Lorenzo Rafael
Alberto Galán	...	El Pintor
Margarita Cortés	...	Lupe
Miguel Inclán	...	Don Damian
Beatriz Ramos	...	Reporter
Rafael Icardo	...	Priest
Julio Ahuet	...	Jose Alfonso
Lupe del Castillo	...	Bone-doctor (as Guadalupe del Castillo)
Lupe Inclán	...	Gossip
Salvador Quiroz	...	Judge
Nieves	...	Model
Elda Loza	...	Model
Lupe Garnica	...	Model

Storyline

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Plot Keywords:

mexican | native american

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Taglines:

Una sublime historia de amor

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Genres:

Romance | Drama

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Certificate:

Approved

Details

Country:

Mexico

Language:

Spanish

Release Date:

11 September 1944 (USA)

Also Known As:

Portrait of Maria

Filming Locations:

Xochimilco, Mexico City, Distrito Federal, Mexico

Company Credits

Production Co:

Films Mundiales

Technical Specs

Runtime:

102 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Did You Know?

Connections

Spoofed in La Valentina (1966)

User Reviews

Indian poverty

Mexico is a rich nation, but with a large "army" of poor and miserable people. The poverty is more evident in areas around Mexico City, and south of the country including Chiapas state. This film of Emilio "Indio" Fernández wanted to point out the situation of Indian population living close to Mexico City, Xochimilco. It is clear that during the first half of XX century the population in that area lacked of appropriate houses, sanitation, insufficient food, malaria was still a problem, illiteracy was high, corruption and lack of social justice governed the environment. The Indians had only church as a remedy, but this institution was also poor and unable to do too much for them, only advising the humans to pray. María Candelaria (Dolores del Río) was an unfortunate lady whose mother had problems in the past, she was having friendship with Lorenzo Rafael (Pedro Armendáriz), a tough but kind Indian living close to her. They only wanted to get married, but several difficulties hindered this objective. It is difficult to understand how a person considered as a Christian, is able to deny the medicine to others when they are close to die, and this scene is shown in the film. When population lives in a kind of world of ignorance, prejudices sprout as potatoes, and this is what happened to poor María Candelaria. This film is in black and white, technically distant from the films we see nowadays, but it is worth to see it in order to understand a bit of the miseries of people living south of Río Grande.