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"Canoa" (1976) is a powerful, very evocative Mexican film based upon a "reportedly real incident" that took place in 1968. Canoa was a town near the city of Puebla that was under the thrall of a venal and corrupt priest with his hand in every till. He stirred up the population about Communists and rebellious rabble rousers who he claimed would cause dire trouble for the town. It was a poor place with a largely Indian population that had hardscrabble farming conditions due to the effects of erosion. The land had been stripped of its forestation for wood and charcoal.
A loudspeaker broadcast propaganda to the town and was used by the priest as a conduit (along with his sermons) for his hate-mongering. The priest, wearing sun glasses like a mobster boss, ran every aspect of the town, but his supporters said that he was the one who had brought the telephone, electricity, the highway and water to the town fountain. He charged for those who used the fountain as a water supply.
The movie is told almost as a documentary with characters speaking before the camera. It has captions depicting the time and date. Five engaging, carefree young male employees of the University of Puebla were making a mountain climbing trip. Their bus lets them off in Canoa where their expedition is interrupted by a severe rain storm. They seek overnight shelter in the town.
Word spread that these five are student agitators similar to the leftist university dissidents who caused trouble in some of Mexico's large cities.
The mob scenes in which the large crowds are surging through the streets hunting down the "troublemakers" carrying pitchforks. torches and tool-weapons are not done as cleverly as they could have been because they are too reminiscent of the Transylvania mobs pursuing Frankenstein's monster.
While the climbers took refuge in a peasant house, a mob forms with a lynching psychology. The way mob psychology is created and proliferated is handled very well in the film. Suspense builds as the crowd swells and grows more agitated. The rioters set upon and viciously attack the outsiders, and several of the innocents are killed
The priest is shown in a sermon rationalizing what has happened and in a scene (in civies) in which he is talking to the camera. He does not tell how he has manipulated the townspeople and imposed his will upon them by creating scapegoats and imaginary "enemies." There is a beautiful, "life goes on" scene at the end where the townspeople are having a folkloric celebration and ritualistic dance in colorful costumes which recall their Indian past.
It's a movie that deserves a wider following because of its significance and also because of the way the story is developed and filmed. A fine production.
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March 14, 2017 "Please retry" | Criterion Collection | 1 | $16.86 | $10.88 |
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Top reviews from other countries
Julio V.Escalante Perla
Como si hubiese estrenado este año.
Reviewed in Mexico on October 11, 2022
