Ixcanul (2015)
10/10
ixcanul(kaqchikel for 'volcano');plethora of snakes in film,but the word serpiente not in title>>
29 August 2016
Yes,I had to read the internet reviews to figure out the plot;& came in fully prepared to compare it to the last similar movie,'el Abraxo de la Serpiente',by Ciro Guerra,a more documentary-like,instructional film about the effects of 300 years of European colonialism on the indigenous Indians of the amazon rain forest. But strangely,the woman(very stoic looking Maria Mercedes Coroy,great actress)reminded me of the Mexican waif('Ride the Pink Pony',1946);excuse me,'RIde the Pink Horse', starring Robert Montgomery; about the small girl who keeps dogging this ex-GI,who lands in San Pablo,New Mexico determined to flush out a new York Mobster for squaring away past debts?both put in great performances;there was a lot of astrological/ mystical references in 'el Abraxo....',not as many in this movie,I wish there were more of those,but Juana(Telon) did call out a lot of references to beseeching blessings of earth,wind,water,volcano,or sacrifice a pig as offering to appease a long,dormant volcano, lest it explode w/ lava & havoc to the nearby villages, so as to bring good luck to her daughter's betrothel to the local coffee plantation owner.(in 'el Abraxo....' it was the local rubber plantation owners who were the villains in movie...)>>
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