Emiliano Zapata, the Mexican Revolutioner, fought under this slogan: "Tierra y Libertad" (Land & Freedom). This documentary film was shot in Monterrey during the 70's. At that time my town had everything upside down : There was a terrorist group named "The 23 of September League" terrifying the society plus some active Marxist groups inside our major Universities, but I believe the most important event that happened those years in town was the massive migration of poor peasants from rural communities to town, and this is the topic of the Film (The antecedent is just the context). Canadian Bulbulian shot a shocking and beauty-artsy film when thousands of people who had left their homes moved to an Urban-modern-industrial-complex city. Most of the people was framed by the Government and the Capitalists in town at that time, I mean, they (the peasants) had already their lives in their small towns, but they were seduced with the dream of a "better life" in a large city by "recruiting agents" under the payroll of capitalists interested in get cheap labor costs only. Unfortunately, they believed the promise of good jobs, education, nice houses to live in, medical services and stuff. When they started to arrive (There was a period of time when 2,000 people arrived daily) they found nothing at all.
I was just a child when all this mess came over to town. It was a time bomb. Fortunately, a natural leadership (among the poor and framed people) started to challenge the "establishment", and a unique community inside another one started to raise the flag of hope : "The Tierra y Libertad Community". They just took a piece of land by themselves, started to build their own houses (with cartons, pieces of wood, rocks and everything they could find), they started to create their own rules and laws, they just marched on against everything. They were brave and encouraged, they never gave up and they proved something important to our egotistic society. It was a beautiful and successful experiment that started in the wind. This experience reminds me when I read about the unsuccessful experiment of a community called "New Harmony" in the state of Indiana, USA founded and sponsored by Socialist Robert Owen in the past century. "New Harmony" was a rational and intellectualized experiment, and "Tierra y Libertad" was not, and I feel that's the main reason of its success.
Maurice Bulbulian did a great job by doing this documentary film, its B&W photograph is just wonderful, the camera was the witness of real events and real people fighting for their dignity. This is not a film, it is a scream, it is a howl, and you don't need to be a student of Economics to get into the spirit of this modest masterpiece.
I was just a child when all this mess came over to town. It was a time bomb. Fortunately, a natural leadership (among the poor and framed people) started to challenge the "establishment", and a unique community inside another one started to raise the flag of hope : "The Tierra y Libertad Community". They just took a piece of land by themselves, started to build their own houses (with cartons, pieces of wood, rocks and everything they could find), they started to create their own rules and laws, they just marched on against everything. They were brave and encouraged, they never gave up and they proved something important to our egotistic society. It was a beautiful and successful experiment that started in the wind. This experience reminds me when I read about the unsuccessful experiment of a community called "New Harmony" in the state of Indiana, USA founded and sponsored by Socialist Robert Owen in the past century. "New Harmony" was a rational and intellectualized experiment, and "Tierra y Libertad" was not, and I feel that's the main reason of its success.
Maurice Bulbulian did a great job by doing this documentary film, its B&W photograph is just wonderful, the camera was the witness of real events and real people fighting for their dignity. This is not a film, it is a scream, it is a howl, and you don't need to be a student of Economics to get into the spirit of this modest masterpiece.
