No this isn’t a movie about masked wrestlers in suits fighting drug dealers or hordes of mummies. The 1960 Mexican film, Macario, was the first Mexican film to be nominated for an Academy Award for Best Film in a Foreign Language. Adopted from the novel by B. Traven’s “The third guest”, the film touches on subjects like poverty, religion, guilt, greed and the paranormal, Macario is one of my favorite films of all time.
Like many others, Mexican culture is deeply rooted in ancient rituals that involve Death and the other side. As a kid, one of my favorite topics in the paranormal was the ‘Angel of Death’, depicted at times by a lady in black. These stories were my favorite. I would pay special attention to the details told and ask meticulous questions about their encounter or story. Questions like: “Where did you see it?” “How many times?” “Did it acknowledge you?” and so on. Of course one can dismiss these as just campfire tales but the fact of the matter is almost everyone that I was related to knew someone or some story about the ‘lady in black’.
I grew up wishing I would never catch a glimpse of Death. As the stories go; Once you lay your eyes on the ‘lady in black’, death was certain for the witness.
Macario is a movie that is rich in Mexican folklore, beliefs and fears.
Plot
The story centers on Macario, a poor indigenous woodcutter, during the Colonial Mexico, who lives enraged for being so poor. His economic situation keeps him and his family at the edge of starvation. After he sees a procession of roast turkeys, his dream is to eat a whole roast turkey just by himself. He announces in front of his wife and children that he will not eat until his dream comes true. His worried wife steals a turkey and gives it to Macario before he heads to the mountains to work.
However, just as Macario prepares to eat the turkey, three men appear to him. The first one is the Devil in the guise as a fine gentleman, who tempts Macario in order to get a piece of the turkey. The second one is God in the guise as an old man. Macario refuses to share the turkey with either the fine gentleman or the old man, since he believes that they both have the means necessary to get themselves what they want.
When a third figure appears to him—a peasant like himself—he gladly shares the turkey with the man. The third man is none other than Death itself. But Death is unsure why Macario has shared his turkey with him and not with the Devil and God. Macario then gives a very smart answer: “Whenever you appear, there is no time for anything else.” Macario hoped to forstall what he assumed to be his imminent death by gaining the time it would take for him and Death to eat. Death is amused and as a compensation, names Macario his “friend” and gives him miraculous water that will heal any disease. If Death appears at the feet of the sick person, they can be healed with the water – but if Death appears by the person’s head he or she is condemned to die. This “friendship” lasts for years, but they never speak to each other, but merely stare.
Comparison to novel
The film is adapted from the novel The Third Guest by B. Traven, and differs from the plot in that in the book, Death appears to already know the course of events that will lead to Macario’s downfall (“once men will know about it, you will not be able to stop”) and that Death will allow one last favor, out of gratitude for restoring Death’s energy for another 100 years, saving Macario’s family and Macario himself from the public dishonor brought by the Inquisition verdict.
This is not the type of Horror film that I usually post, but Macario gives a beautifully and haunted perspective into the juxtaposition of the paranormal and Mexican folklore. I really hope you guys enjoy this movie as much as I do. If you do, then definitely buy it!
