Eréndira (1983)

Director:

Ruy Guerra

Writers:

Gabriel García Márquez (novel)
Gabriel García Márquez (screenplay)

Release Date:

1 June 1984 (Mexico)

Genre:

Drama

Plot:

While Erendira, a beautiful teenage girl, has a surreal mystical vision, her grandmother's house catches on fire and burns to the ground...

Plot Keywords:

Prostitution | House | Grandmother's House | Fire | Forced Prostitution

Awards:

1 win & 1 nomination

Cast

Irene Papas	...	Grandmother Amadis
Claudia Ohana	...	Erendira
Michael Lonsdale	...	Senator Onésimo Sanchez
Oliver Wehe	...	Ulysses
Rufus	...	Photographer
Blanca Guerra	...	Ulysses' mother
Ernesto Gómez Cruz	...	Grocer
Pierre Vaneck	...	Ulysses' father
Carlos Cardán	...	Smuggler
Humberto Elizondo	...	Blacaman
Jorge Fegán	...	Army commander
Francisco Mauri	...	Postman
Sergio Calderón	...	Truck driver
Martín Palomares	...	Escort
Salvador Garcini	...	Puppet-player

Also Known As:

Die unglaubliche und traurige Geschichte von der unschuldigen Erendira und ihrer herzlosen Großmutter (West Germany)

Runtime:

103 min

Country:

France | Mexico | West Germany

Language:

Portuguese | Spanish

Color:

Color

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

West Germany:16 (f) | Australia:R | Finland:K-16 | Sweden:15

Filming Locations:

Mexico City, Distrito Federal, Mexico

Company:

Les Films du Triangle

Trivia:

Based on the story "La increíble y triste historia de la cándida Eréndira y su abuela desalmada" ("The Incredible and Sad Tale of Innocent Eréndira and Her Heartless Grandmother"), by Nobel Prize-winning Colombian novelist Gabriel García Márquez.

Soundtrack:

Tortuga

A film worth saving

Unfortunately, this movie never made it to DVD. I saw it when it was first released to the theaters in 1983, and then again when the VHS was released in 1992. When I recently saw a VHS copy at a flea market, I immediately bought it. I was not disappointed. First, the obvious: Claudia Ohana is beautiful and a joy to behold. But then, the film takes you into an unreal world where you have to reflect on your values and decide what is really important to you. The movie is about a lot of things. It is about how the World Bank and large corporations exploit and enslave developing countries with their capitalist schemes to force them into a debt that they can never repay. It is about how our economic system exploits us by forcing us into debt with credit cards, mortgage, and car payment. It is about trying to save an innocence that maybe we have never really had and maybe we cannot really save. It is about good and evil and about how hard it is sometimes to tell one from the other. It raises a lot of questions but does not give answers. I think sometimes this is good. For this reason, this is a film really worth saving and seeing.