Canoa

Although not well known to American audiences, this 1976 film is a landmark of Mexican cinema. Set during the political unrest of 1968 and based on real life events, the film opens with a news report: four young men killed and another critically injured in San Miguel Canoa, a small, impoverished village located a few miles from the city of Puebla. Director Felipe Cazals uses documentary techniques to illustrate the town's culture and highlight the power wielded by the priest, and more conventional dramatic scenes to introduce the aforementioned young men (all apolitical employees of a university). The measured, sober reportage style and easygoing comic quality of the boisterous boys collide when the townsfolk brutally attack the strangers after being stirred into hysteria by the priest. The setting may not resonate with American viewers but the portrait of a community leader manipulating the ignorant and illiterate through fear, xenophobia, and religion is perennially relevant. Canoa is historical drama and political commentary presented as horror film, with bloody scenes of brutal violence as the innocent students are massacred with machetes and rifles. This remarkable drama combines unreliable narrators, documentary style, and primal drama into a powerful portrait of despotism, manipulation, and mob violence in a thoughtful, provocative, and ultimately emotionally affecting manner. Extras include a video introduction by filmmaker Guillermo del Toro and a conversation between filmmaker Alfonso Cuarón and Cazals. Highly recommended. (S. Axmaker)