El bulto (1992)

Director:

Gabriel Retes

Writers:

Lourdes Elizarrarás (writer)
Gabriela Retes (writer)

Release Date:

28 August 1992 (Mexico)

Genre:

Comedy | Drama

Plot:

After being in a comma for 20 year, Lauro (Retes) wakes up in a very different Mexico than the one he lived on...

Plot Keywords:

Family Relationships | Recovery | Historical Event

Awards:

1 win & 3 nominations

Cast

Gabriel Retes	...	Lauro
Héctor Bonilla	...	Alberto
Lourdes Elizarrarás	...	Adela
José Alonso	...	Toño
Delia Casanova	...	Alba
Cecilia Camacho	...	Valeria
Lucila Balzaretti	...	Grandma
Juan Claudio Retes	...	Daniel
Gabriela Retes	...	Sonia
Luis Felipe Tovar	...	Alfonso
Francisco de la O	...	Armando
Paloma Robles	...	Isabel
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Raúl Barrón	...	Paramedical 1
Francisco Bravo	...	Lauro's friend
Jorge Bulnes	...	Journalist 1
Aztlán Camacho	...	Killed man at meeting
Daniela Campesino	...	Natalia
Pilar Campesino	...	Lauro's friend
Sofía Campesino	...	Elenita
Javier Castillo	...	Meeting Leader
Antonio Chávez	...	Lauro's friend
Yuriria del Valle	...	Girlfriend 1
Alma Elizarrarás	...	Lauro's friend
Hermila García	...	Knocked woman at meeting
Alfonso Lora	...	Doctor 1
Gonzalo Lora	...	Rogelio
Joel Lora	...	Paramedical 2
Liliana Martínez	...	Samantha
Guadalupe Ortega	...	Lauro's friend
Alejandro Pacheco	...	Journalist 2
Jaime Ramos	...	Lauro's friend
Cristóbal Retes	...	Toñito
Elena Rivas	...	Claudia
Xavier Robles	...	Lauro's friend
Blanca Salcés	...	Mónica
Carlos Salcés	...	Alejandro
Paolo Tagliolini	...	Boyfriend 1
Víctor	...	Reporter

Also Known As:

Excess Baggage

Runtime:

114 min

Country:

Mexico

Language:

Spanish

Color:

Color

Sound Mix:

Ultra Stereo

Certification:

Finland:K-12

Filming Locations:

Mexico City, Distrito Federal, Mexico

Company:

Cooperativa Conexión, S.C.L.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Bienvenido-Welcome (1995)

Gripping psychological/cultural view of changes in Mexico from the sixties to the eighties.

A modern or post-modern Rip Van Winkel story of as much relevance to the US or Europe as it is to Mexico and Latin America. A young protester of the sixties era is caught up in a demonstration and savagely beaten by government-sponsored thugs. Nursed by his loving wife and children, he awakens and must confront the both the changes and the continuities in the society that he has missed participating or viewing in the intervening period.

This is one of the best films on the impact of the rebellion of the sixties on contemporary society in any language or culture. While the literate US public has some knowledge of the protests in the United States, France, and possibly Czechoslavakia, it is not known generally that Mexico also had a great protest tradition and was rocked by a major student rebellion. In this film, directed and acted in by the creative and accomplished Mexican cinema and theater producer, Gabriel Retes, an activist who was badly beaten and in a quasi-coma for around two decades, awakens in the new world of the contemporary post-sixties and must come to terms with it. A Rip Van Winkel story for the postmodern era, fascinating and intriguing, highly recommended.