This film is one of the gems of the Golden Age of Mexican Cinema. It was shown in Puerto Rican television repeatedly throughout the 80's, and it was one of the films which inspired me to be a filmmaker. The acting, in particular the performance by Pedro Infante, was powerful, and the story is quite engaging. Looking at it now, as an adult, I find it still packs a punch, but in the way Sirk's "Immitation of Life" does. It is an engaging piece of melodrama which periodically succumbs to prejudiced (maybe even condescending) attitudes towards its Black characters. The end, however, becomes a testament to the human spirit. Douglas Sirk would have been proud.
6 Reviews
Worth watching
louisgfranco15 March 2017
It's all been said in the previous comments with a touch of cultural disconnect in a couple reviews. I can understand how some could find the endearment terms from the father towards the daughter offensive when viewed from an outsiders perspective of say an American who isn't familiar with Mexican culture would. I'm not denying racism exist in Mexico but in this occasion clearly misunderstood by a couple of reviewers. It is common today for wives and mothers to call their husbands and sons negro or negrito (black, little black one/blackie) as a term of endearment and free of the negative connotation Americans might perceive. In Mexican culture til this day a wife or mother nicknaming her husband or son enano (midget) for being short or even pulga/pulguita (flea or little flea) for being of small stature and not one Mexican would perceive it as demeaning. To prove my point, my name is Louis in Mexico people named Louis/ Luis often get nicknamed Huicho (don't ask me why) which is the name of an indigenous tribe in Mexico Huichol or Huicholes to which I have no blood relation to and there's nothing negative about it. I'm guessing nicknaming someone Cherokee or Seminole wouldn't be taken as well by Americans who have no ties to the tribe itself. I'll close with the common female name Blanca which translates to white. Guaranteed to be called Blanquita by someone dear to them and this translates to little white one,/whitey you get the jiff.
Angels
.. in Black!
treada738 August 2005
This melodrama could be consider the very first Mexican movie to deal with a racist topic, not very usual in the Mexican films until then, so Joselito Rodriguez had a double hit, he mixed the original idea of a racists problem to show and a maternal drama whose effectiveness he had already proved it as a sound engineer in Madre Querida(Juan Orol,1934),so he knew how to surprise the Mexican public more habituated to be victim of racism than being racist.
Besides the film has an extraordinary cast,Pedro infante who at least Joselito Rodriguez give him fame and fortune in this time, maybe to compensate the penury he was about to suffer, however Infante try to take in a good mood the matter which to his wife is a real tragedy have a black daughter- and used to call her "chocolate splint" and several ways related with black color., the delicious Emilia Giu more blonde than ever who fulminate with her beautiful glance every black one who cross her way, and the "guilty" of all this clutter, the always weeping Rita Montaner,
the movie give us a little bit of everything, we can see some real dramatic scenes, some really funny ones and others involuntary laughable, an anthological scene of the Mexican dramas is shown :the little black daughter cover herself with talcum to become white one, in order to get her mother's love, someone as an audience doesn't decided between laughing or crying at that moment- anyway all these picturesque situations make enjoyable every single minute of this film
Besides the film has an extraordinary cast,Pedro infante who at least Joselito Rodriguez give him fame and fortune in this time, maybe to compensate the penury he was about to suffer, however Infante try to take in a good mood the matter which to his wife is a real tragedy have a black daughter- and used to call her "chocolate splint" and several ways related with black color., the delicious Emilia Giu more blonde than ever who fulminate with her beautiful glance every black one who cross her way, and the "guilty" of all this clutter, the always weeping Rita Montaner,
the movie give us a little bit of everything, we can see some real dramatic scenes, some really funny ones and others involuntary laughable, an anthological scene of the Mexican dramas is shown :the little black daughter cover herself with talcum to become white one, in order to get her mother's love, someone as an audience doesn't decided between laughing or crying at that moment- anyway all these picturesque situations make enjoyable every single minute of this film
Music from Angelitos Negros
opalandharry24 April 2007
Angelitos Negros is a wonderful movie with magnificent songs and is very relevant for today's society. Does anyone know where I can obtain just the music? I am also interested in an instrumental (music only, not karaoke) version of the song, Belen, from this movie and the lyrics of Belen as sung by Pedro Infante in this movie. I can understand the Spanish, but I am having trouble with the Afro-Cuban words. The great Carlos Ramirez also sang Belen on a separate recording. Is either the Pedro Infante or the Carlos Ramirez sung version of Belen available on CD or as a download? Is an instrumental version of Belen available on CD or as a download? Thank you. Gracias
Get the song and skip the movie
davegering4 February 2008
Sorry, but this one didn't make the grade. The plot was very contrived, and it seemed as though things happened just to keep it from ending before its running time was up.
However, the biggest problem I had was with the father continually calling his own daughter such things as "tar baby", "soot ball", and his "lump of coal." While these may have passed as terms of endearment in the 1940s, they lend the movie a racist tone which makes it hard to watch in the twenty-first century. I understand that the movie was trying to be anti-racist, but the father was supposed to be the non-racist good character. What kind of a message does this send?
About the only plus to this movie was the wonderful title song Angelitos Negros sung toward the end. You don't have to endure the movie to hear the song, though, since it has been recorded a number of times. My personal favorite is the Roberta Flack version, which is overwhelming.
However, the biggest problem I had was with the father continually calling his own daughter such things as "tar baby", "soot ball", and his "lump of coal." While these may have passed as terms of endearment in the 1940s, they lend the movie a racist tone which makes it hard to watch in the twenty-first century. I understand that the movie was trying to be anti-racist, but the father was supposed to be the non-racist good character. What kind of a message does this send?
About the only plus to this movie was the wonderful title song Angelitos Negros sung toward the end. You don't have to endure the movie to hear the song, though, since it has been recorded a number of times. My personal favorite is the Roberta Flack version, which is overwhelming.
One step forward, one step back...
planktonrules25 April 2015
The notion of a film about race from the 1940s is great--and "Angelitos Negros" is one of the first Spanish language films about race. Unfortunately, it's a terrible film and is both offensive AND makes little sense!
In a stretch, Pedro Infante plays a world famous singer (he WAS a world famous singer in real life). He meets a blonde lady and they marry. Soon she has a baby and the child is black! The father isn't terribly upset about it and accepts the child--calling it his little 'tar ball' or 'soot ball' (imagine what he would have called it had he NOT accepted it!!!). It turns out that the mother, though blonde, is actually half black and their maid is actually her mother. Here's where the plot gets insane...the priest insists that the husband NOT tell his the truth...at least not yet. So, the wife'll think HE is biracial, not her. Years pass and the mother hates the child and is a total B@*%! towards the child and her husband. Why they STILL haven't told her and put up with her awful behavior is beyond me--and the film is just plain awful AND offensive. It seems that they tried to make a good film about race but insisted on racial epithets AND having most of the black actors played by white folks who were spray painted black!!!!
In a stretch, Pedro Infante plays a world famous singer (he WAS a world famous singer in real life). He meets a blonde lady and they marry. Soon she has a baby and the child is black! The father isn't terribly upset about it and accepts the child--calling it his little 'tar ball' or 'soot ball' (imagine what he would have called it had he NOT accepted it!!!). It turns out that the mother, though blonde, is actually half black and their maid is actually her mother. Here's where the plot gets insane...the priest insists that the husband NOT tell his the truth...at least not yet. So, the wife'll think HE is biracial, not her. Years pass and the mother hates the child and is a total B@*%! towards the child and her husband. Why they STILL haven't told her and put up with her awful behavior is beyond me--and the film is just plain awful AND offensive. It seems that they tried to make a good film about race but insisted on racial epithets AND having most of the black actors played by white folks who were spray painted black!!!!
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