Customer Reviews

Tizoc (Amor Indio)

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

The great Mexican director Ismael Rodriquez brought two idols of the Mexican screen together during the mid 1950's, Maria Felix and Pedro Infante, to create an instant classic. This is an excellent film that was filmed in the mountanious area of Oaxaca with magnificent footage of the natural beauty. Pedro Infante is Tizoc, a naive Indian peasant who has a penchant for animals but kills them for their hides with his primitive heaving of a stone in a sling method. His accuracy is astounding and makes the other Indians jealous and he becomes the butt of their jokes and all the other villagers seem to dislike this very likeable character. His accuracy eventually wins the favor of the rich merchant who buys his hides but not before his daughter arrives from Mexico City. The lovely Maria Felix is the rich mans daughter and immediately notices Tizoc. Tizoc meets her and runs away because he thinks she is the virgin Mary come to life from the statue in the church. He gives his simpleton explanation to the priest who scoffs at his story and takes him back and convinces him it is only a resemblance. Tizoc is heroic in his quest to prove his love for Maria Felix. The story proceeds with many touching moments as the two stars strike up a tragic love affair. If you speak Spanish the original language version is preferred over the dubbed version, there is always something lost in a translation. This was Pedro Infante's second to the last film made and earned him a postumous award for best male actor in the Berlin Film Festival. He is terrific and even sings three songs, a twist on the singing cowboy, he is the singing Indio. The film also won the Ariel(Oscar) in Mexcio for best picture and music. One of the highlights is the cinematography which captures the colors of the folkloric clothes worn by the Indians. The "costumes" are magnificent and an added bonus to an epic love story between rich and poor, that crossed social and ethnic lines. Tizoc's speech and perceptions of the world are priceless and worth the cost alone of this classic of Mexican cinema.

The description line says "dubbed in Spanish"? As if it were another Hollywood movie prepared for the Mexican audience. Nothing like it. Instead, this is actually one of the most famous films of the classic Mexican golden age of motion pictures. Starring María Felix and Pedro Infante who sings three songs - it does not get much better than this.

However, I am not going to buy these classics on VHS. The DVD medium has much more to offer, especially in languages. Some of Pedros classic movies are already out on DVD, and they give you the option to add Spanish or English subtitles to the film. As the technical quality of these films is not very good, and as much colloquial language and slang is used, the lines are sometimes hardly audible for a non-native Spanish speaker, so you will need the subtitles. If you know some Spanish, why not try reading the lines in the film's original language? Some of the DVD versions even include original trailers and "behind the scenes" footage. Check out "Los tres huastecos" for instance.

So come on people, let us keep telling companies to release the films on DVD, and THEN we buy them.

One doesn't usually associate director Ismael Rodriguez with Technicolor and CinemaScope, rather with the earlier b&w Pedro Infante films like "Nosotros los Pobres," and "Los Tres Garcia," but this film has brilliant color, spectacular scenic vistas, and is gorgeous to look at, and one wishes it would be released in widescreen to fully appreciate the beauty of its Oaxacan landscape and the many historic landmarks. "Tizoc" is also special because it stars the two most renown actors of the Epoca de Oro of Mexican filmmaking, Pedro Infante and Maria Felix. Infante plays Tizoc, a humble but noble native of royal bloodlines, hated by the rest of the Mixteca villagers because he is not from the same tribe, and despised by the white man because of being "indio." When Tizoc first sees Maria, the headstrong, artist daughter of a landowner, he thinks she is the Virgen Maria, and then when Maria, ignorant of a local custom, gives him her handkerchief to wipe some blood from an injury, he falls hopelessly in love with her. Maria is engaged to handsome Capitan Arturo (Eduardo Fajardo), and trying to sort out the confusions and errors of many is Fray Bernardo (Andres Soler, excellent as the "Padrecito").

A lot of the dialogue is in a semi-dialect but is understandable, and the film has a certain stiffness to it (perhaps because Infante walks with a slight stoop and bent knees!), but nevertheless it has loads of charm, and is endearing due to Tizoc's sweet soul and his ability to converse with animals, which makes him poetic and intuitive. Maria Felix as always looks like a goddess, and her presence fills the screen like few superstars have managed to do. With the exception of one short scene which alternates betwen being a little too dark and a little too light, the film is in very good condition. Alex Phillips did the glorious cinematography, Raul Lavista the interesting score, where birdsongs are the main focus of the soundtrack, and "Tizoc" won a Golden Globe Award in 1958 for Best Foreign Language Film, as well as many other awards, like a Golden Ariel for Ismael Rodriguez, and a Silver Award for Best Actor at the 1957 Berlin International Festival, given to Infante posthumously. Pedro Infante (1917-1957) crashed his plane near Merida in the Yucutan, and 50 years after his passing, still reigns supreme in the hearts of millions.

The movie itself is fantastic. I lowered my rating by a star due to the so-so quality of the print. Some scenes are so overexposed, you only make out silhouettes.

English-
In this passionate drama, Pedro Infante portrays one of his last memorable characters of the silver screen. Along with María Félix and Andrés Soler, unfolds the tale of a Mexican Indian peasant that falls in love with an upper-class maiden of mixed Spaniard and Mexican-Indian ancestry ("mestiza") who has withdrawn from her pre-Columbian roots. Raised in the culture of Hispanicized Mexico, she's foreign to the royalty and nobility of the people of rural Mexico, the dispossessed Indians. However, her father hates the natives and even goes to the extreme of seen them equal to animals. The plot unfolds when the "mestiza" begins to accept the humanity of the Indian named Tizoc and in return, the native learns that love is as strong as death. This was the last film by the Director/Actor duo Ismael Rodríguez and Pedro Infante (which earned him the posthumous best actor award in the Berlin Film Festival of 1957). A true gem of the Mexican and world cinema.
Espanol-
En este apasionante drama, Pedro Infante realiza uno de sus últimos personajes memorables de la pantalla. Junto con María Félix y Andrés Soler relata el cuento de un indío mexicano que se enamora de una mestiza mexicana alejada de sus raíces precolombinas. Crecida en la cultura del México hispanizado, ignora la realeza y nobleza de la gente del campo, los indios. Sin embargo, su padre odia a los indios y va hasta el grado de concederles el lugar de animales. El trama se desenlaza cuando la mestiza empieza a concebir la humanidad del indio Tizoc y en cambio el indio aprende que el amor es tan fuerte como la muerte. La última película del duo director/protagonista Ismael Rodríguez y Pedro Infante (la cual le ganó el premio póstumo de major actor en el festival de cine en Berlín de 1957). Una verdadera joya del cine mexicano y del cine mundial.

First off, a warning that the DVD is not subtitled. The Spanish is easy though, even Pedro Infante's *indian* accent.
In an era where Frida's adoption of native dress and Diego's valorization of the native was still fresh in the social consciousness, the social fantasy of the rich woman who falls for the despised Indian probably came off as a little less disingenuous. Even today it's still a good film, mostly because of Infante's terrific blend of character acting and presence. He's always the perfect outsider, with a strong and quirky character who becomes weightier and weightier as the film progresses.
The print is less than perfect and the transfer is less than good, but it's watchable without too much distraction. Sadly one generally has to make do with this sort of copy to watch this old gems of the Mexican cinema. Unfortunately piracy probably renders any more ambitious project unprofitable.

THE MOVIE IN ITSELF WAS GREAT, AWESOME, A CLASSIC YOU SHOULD HAVE AS PART OF YOUR VIDEO LIBRARY. HOWEVER, THE COPY I PURCHASED FROM VIVEROS, PARTNER OF AMAZON, REALLY SUCKED. IT APPEAR TO BE A BOOTLEG COPY OF A DVD. VERY DARK, COULD NOT SEE THE PICTURE. FOR FUTURE REFERENCE, BUY STRICTLY FROM AMAZON AND NOT ITS AFFFILIATES, CAN'T BE GUARANTEE THE QUALITY OF THE PRODUCT VERSES AMAZON, ALWAYS CARRIES ORIGINALS.

I saw this film as a child in México, DF, at the Cine Internacional on Avenida Insurgentes. I have not seen it since, yet it is deeply engrained in my consciousness, as is my memory that it was shown at international film festivals with great success. The lessons were about class, division, and rightfulness. He hunted with a sling, so the pelts would not be damaged by bullets; his kills were riddled by jealous opponents. This is a movie I have wanted to watch again for four decades...

What an amazing performer Pedro Infante was! Not only was he possessed of the most beautiful voice of his generation (sorry, Negrete) but he was positively chamaleonic in his choice of roles. La Felix is her usual imperious self, and it is delightful to recognize a host a excellent character actors that were the backbone of early Mexican cinema. As to the plot, pure unadulterated corn--it seems the Mexicans invented soaps. All in all, a classic.

Excellent portray of the Mexican indian of those times, Pedro Infante's acting is superb, very heart touching simple philosophy of the indian called Tizoc.