Canoa (1976)

User Rating:

7.5/10   

Director:

Felipe Cazals

Writer:

Tomás Pérez Turrent (writer)

Release Date:

4 March 1976 (Mexico)

Genre:

Adventure | Crime | Drama | Thriller

Plot:

A group of students take a bus to go to a small town, in order to finish a professional practice. All of them are friends...

Plot Keywords:

Student | Small Town | Priest | Mountain Climbing | Violence

Awards:

2 wins & 2 nominations

Cast

Arturo Alegro	...	Ramón
Julio Alejandro
Sergio Calderón	...	Presidente municipal
Carlos Chávez	...	Miguel
Rodrigo Cruz	...	Tendero
Gerardo del Castillo	...	Manuel
Alicia del Lago	...	Esposa de Lucas
Malena Doria	...	Ama de llaves del cura
Jorge Fegán	...	Comandante
Salvador Garcini
Jaime Garza	...	Roberto
Guillermo Gil	...	Policia del ejercito
Ernesto Gómez Cruz	...	Lucas
Enrique Lucero	...	Priest
Juan Ángel Martínez	...	Comisario
Gastón Melo	...	Sacristan
Maricruz Nájera
Manuel Ojeda	...	Hombre del pueblo
Baltazar Oviedo
Rodrigo Puebla	...	Pedro
María de los Ángeles Rodríguez
Adriana Rojo
Salvador Sánchez	...	Witness
Roberto Sosa	...	Julián
Flor Trujillo
Miguel Ángel Turrent
Gerardo Vigil	...	Jesús Carrillo Sánchez

Runtime:

115 min

Country:

Mexico

Language:

Spanish

Color:

Color

Sound Mix:

Mono

Filming Locations:

Faldas de la Malinche, Puebla, Mexico

Company:

Conacite Uno

Most impacting movie in modern Mexico's cinematography

Based on a true story, this movie shows the great differences within Mexico rural and urban areas. Modernity could not be accepted in the rural areas, basically because the ignorant peasants were dominated by certain groups, including, like in this movie, the Catholic Church. Let's remember that the students massacres that had happened in 1968 and 1972 were still fresh in the minds of many Mexicans. Those students had been accused by the Government,of being Comunists. In this particular movie 5 young students of the Capital's State University decide to climb a volcano. Because of bad weather they have to stay overnight in a little village besides the Volcano. The local Priest assumes that they are Communists coming to agitate in his territory and accuses them with the people of trying to close the Church. The mob tries to lynch them. The beauty of this film resides in the fact that fanaticism is shown at its maximum level so as to make us think where this can lead us in our lives. This is true of the corrupt authorities, the Priest that uses Religion to maintain his privileges, the village people that mix Religion and fanaticism, etc. It is a great sociological study of the consequences of these extreme attitudes.