A production marked by propaganda
The cinema develops under the presidency of Porfirio Díaz, a dictator who sees in the invention of the Lumière brothers a new propaganda tool. He therefore orchestrated its production by French operators. The Mexican revolution that broke out in 1914 encouraged international filmmakers to take an interest in the opposition forces. Thus, Pancho Villa signed a contract with an American company so that his operators could film his confrontations from the best position. He authorized reenactments, having understood that these stagings made him the first hero of Mexican cinema. His gamble paid off: the image of the mustachioed rider with a sombrero circulated all over the world.
Sergei Eisenstein(Battleship Potemkin) went to Mexico in the 1930s. He was preparing a feature film on the Mexican revolution and the Zapatista women's groups: Que Viva Mexico. But the film is diverted from the director's wish... The revolution is already far away, and its memory is not well seen in the spheres of power. This heritage also attracted committed American directors, such as Elia Kazan who directed Viva Zapata in 1952. The famous revolutionary was played by Marlon Brando, and the script was written by John Steinbeck.
From the golden age to the era of the "charros
From the 1930s to the end of the 1950s, Mexican cinema experienced its golden age. The films of Luis Buñuel, the poetic tales of Emilio Fernández, but also the comedies of the stars Tin-Tan and Cantinflas as well as the daily dramas, had a depth and quality that have no equivalent today.
Luis Buñuel, born in Spain, became a naturalized Mexican citizen in 1951. The director crossed the history of cinema, from his surrealist period with Dali at the end of the 1920s, to his last absurdist comedies filmed in France in the 1970s. The emblematic work of his Mexican period is Los Olvidados
(1950). This golden age was unfortunately followed by a period of "charros" films, named after the insipid pastries that were mass-produced. However, a few great films were made: Buñuel made his last film in Mexico with The Exterminating Angel (1962), and Alejandro Jodorowsky made his masterpiece The Holy Mountain (1973). Another Mexican director stands out, Paul Leduc. After studying in Paris, he returned to Mexico in 1967 and founded the group Ciné 70, where he made his first feature film, John Reed Mexico Insurgente, shot with few resources and in the style of a true documentary. In 1976, his second feature film, Etnocidio, notas sobre el mezquital, opened our eyes to the deplorable situation of indigenous peasants in Mexico.Political works
Mexico's geopolitical context, and in particular its border with the United States, has been a favorite subject for cinema in recent decades. Diego Quemada-Díez's Dreams of Gold (2013) immerses us in the journey of Central American migrants across the country. The border is also the subject of some foreign films made in co-production with Mexico, like the Coen brothers' No Country for Old Men (2007).
The Netflix series Narcos Mexico
The stars of contemporary cinema
Mexican cinema experienced a certain revival in the early 1990s. Jaime Humberto Hermosillo made headlines with La Tarea (1991) which was a huge success. The director attacks the hypocrisy of the Mexican middle classes. The actress and politician Maria Rojo has the leading role. But it is from the end of the 1990s that a number of very good films are produced, and a trio of directors stand out: Alejandro González Iñárritu, Alfonso Cuarón and Guillermo del Toro, who all managed to export themselves internationally and maintain an auteur cinema in the mainstream
circuit.Iñárritu's first films are polyphonic: they follow the paths of several characters who intersect around an event: a car accident in Dogs in Love (2000), a stray bullet in Babel (2006). His other successes are 21 grams (2003), Biutiful (2010) and The Revenant (2015). Amours chiennes
launched the career of Mexican actor Gael Garcia Bernal abroad.Alfonso Cuaròn gained fame with Y tu mama tambien (2001 ), which won the screenplay prize at the Venice Film Festival. His first Hollywood film, The Sons of Man, presents a story of anticipation in a humanity at war and sterile. He then directed Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (2004), where he developed a strong taste for mixing mechanical and virtual camera movements, which reached its peak with Gravity (2013). He signed his return to Mexico on Netflix in 2018 with Roma
, a film that follows the life of a middle-class family in 1970s Mexico City.Guillermo del Toro has distinguished himself both with blockbusters, such as Blade 2 (2002), Pacific Rim (2013), as well as with fantastic auteur films, such as Pan's Labyrinth (2006) or even more recently The Shape of Water (2017, Golden Lion in Venice). His first feature film, the fantasy Cronos, won the Critics' Prize at the Cannes Film Festival in 1993. He also signed the fantasy series The Strain,
broadcast on FX since 2014. Finally, Carlos Reygadas is a young filmmaker with a very promising future. Post Tenebras Lux caused a scandal at the 2012 Cannes Film Festival, while also taking home the Director's Award. He is used to shooting with non-professional actors. His latest film, Nuestro Tiempo, was released in late 2018.
