Mexican Cinema - Comedy and Tragedy

Two more Mexican film recommendations:

First, a comedy. The computer technician who oriented me to the multimedia set-up in my classroom recommended Cantinflas. Cantinflas is a Charlie Chaplin-esque character played by Mario Moreno in a series of 1950s black-and-white Mexican films. The character is an endearing and bumbling misfit; he does not work and he gets into trouble but he also does good. The technician loaned several of the Cantinflas movies to me, including "El bombero atómico" (The Atomic Firefighter) and "Gran Hotel" (Grand Hotel). They are clever and fun and slightly subversive as Cantinflas disrupts social norms.

And a tragedy. Tonight, in my "Cine y Literatura" class, we watched Rojo Amanecer (Red Dawning), a film about the 1968 Tlatelolco massacre of student protesters in Mexico City. I knew nothing of this historical event that preceded by 10 days the Olympics in Mexico City. The film is profound. Rather than dramatize the events that occurred in the city plaza, the film remains within the small space of a multi-generational family apartment as chaos ensues outside the window. The film covers the span of a single day as the family's normal routine erupts into horror. Really, it is one of the most powerful films I've seen, and it is pivotal in Mexican cinema.