MACARIO
One of the greatest Mexican films ever made.
Macario is a 1960 Mexican supernatural drama film directed by Roberto
Gavaldón, starring Ignacio López Tarso and Pina Pellicer. It is based on
the novel of the same name by B. Traven, based on an old mexican legend.
Fun Facts
- First Latinamerican film nominated to an Oscar for Best Foreign Movie in 1961.
- Macario was also nominated to a Palme d'Or in the Cannes Film Festival in 1960.
The Plot
The story centers on Macario, a poor Indigenous woodcutter, during Colonial Mexico, on the eve of the Day of the Dead, who lives embittered for being so poor and hungry. His economic situation keeps him and his family at the edge of starvation. After he sees a procession of roast turkeys, his dream is to eat a whole roast turkey just by himself. He announces in front of his wife and children that he will not eat until his dream comes true. His worried wife steals a turkey and gives it to Macario before he heads to the mountains to work.
However, just as Macario prepares to eat the turkey, three men appear to him. The first one is the Devil in the guise of a fine gentleman, who tempts Macario in order to get a piece of the turkey. The second one is God in the guise of an old man. Macario refuses to share the turkey with either, since he believes that they both have the means necessary to get themselves what they want.
When a third figure —a peasant like himself— appears to him, he gladly shares the turkey with the man. The third man is none other than Death itself. Death is unsure why Macario has shared his turkey with him and not with the Devil and God. Macario responds, "Whenever you appear, there is no time for anything else." Macario hoped to forestall what he assumed to be his imminent death by gaining the time it would take for him and Death to eat. Death is amused and as a compensation, names Macario his "friend" and gives him miraculous water that will heal any disease. But this 'gift' comes with a trick: If Death appears at the feet of the sick person, they can be healed with the water - but if Death appears by the person's head he or she is condemned to die.
Macario quicky becomes known as a miraculous healer, and people start to pay him for his 'miracles'. With this, he is able to offer his family a better life. But his healing powers create such commotion that the church itself will accuse him of heresy, complicating things for Macario.
I bet you are curious to know what happened to Macario! But I won't tell you the end of the story. I'll leave it to Roberto Gavaldón, this movie's director. Go watch the movie!
Read The New York Times article about Macario published on September, 1961.
Coded by
Violeta Fuentes