Canoa - Felipe Cazals (1976) torrent

DIRECTOR: Felipe Cazals
YEAR:1976
CAST: Enrique Lucero
Salvador Sánchez
Ernesto Gómez Cruz
Roberto Sosa
Arturo Allegro

Language: Spanish
Subtitle: English

PLOT: This 1976 Mexican feature is based on a real incident which took place in 1968. When a group of hikers happen upon a village governed by a paranoid and fanatical priest, they are labelled as communists and desecrators and are lynched by the bespelled townspeople.

Canoa (Cazals, 1976) is a story that showcases the power of ignorance. It tells the real-life events (as the first title card reminds us: “Esto Si Pasó (This Did Happen)” of several University workers who arrive to the small town of Canoa after a rainstorm prevents them from hiking up a nearby mountain. The villagers, herded by the corrupt priest, attack, maim and kill the workers believing them to be atheistic communists who intend to kill the priest.
From a historical point of view, one can argue that Cazal’s film is subjective since we get only one side of the story, with the priest emerging the clear antagonist. But after decades of very few corrupt, power-holding officials controlling every aspect of Mexican politics, life and economy, Cazals’ argument is rather valid.
Achieved with technical mastery that is common in Mexican cinema in the 70s (sadly, after this mini-renaissance, Mexican cinema would again decay), Canoa is an example of great filmmaking. The first scene consists of two reporters on the phone as one dictates the events we are yet to see. Then we see the aftermath of the lynching, in a pseudo-police report, as the credits roll. This introduces a film narrative technique Cazals will employ through the rest of the film: that of breaking the fourth wall, or in plain terms, the characters addressing the camera. Acting as if it were the camera of news reporters investigating the affair after the fact, it interviews a common citizen (played by Salvador Sánchez) who informs us of the events leading up to the lynching, and acting like the choir in a classical Greek play. He tells us of the grip the priest has over the town and his instigation that resulted in the lynching.
His peculiar decision to address the audience provides a link from the events to the viewer, making it even more real. This is especially effective considering less than a month later, the Tlatelolco Massacre would break out, and two weeks after that, Mexico would be in the world’s spotlight as it hosted the 1968 Olympics.
This, I think, is the irony of it all. Mexico, on the verge of modernity, almost catching up with the rest of the world’s powers, has to deal with the inheritance of centuries of corruption and violence. And yet, no one is without blame. The lynched workers who tried to distance themselves from current events, the priest and his symbolic place in Mexican history and hierarchy, and the people who allow themselves to be coaxed into believing everything.
In the end, the result is horrifying. The scenes that depict the mob attacking the workers is nightmarish. Scarier, I think than some horror films. Human nature, at its worst, is grislier than any monster.

Text from the user ramosbarajas on Mubi

Many thanks to the original uploader

GENERAL
Format : AVI
File size : 705 MiB
Duration : 1h 54mn
VIDEO
Format : MPEG-4 Visual
Codec ID : XVID
Duration : 1h 54mn
Bit rate : 718 Kbps
Width : 608 pixels
Height : 352 pixels
Display aspect ratio : 1.727
Frame rate : 29.970 fps
AUDIO
Format : MPEG Audio
Codec ID : MP3
Bit rate : 128 Kbps