This is an underrated movie which deals with religious fanaticism through black comedy and a building sense of indignation, trademarks of the major Mexican playwright of the 20th Century, Hugo Arguelles, who wrote the story. According to Arguelles, after Ingmar Bergman saw the movie in the Berlin Film Festival, the Swedish master told him that he would have liked to direct the film. It is a story about a couple in a poor Mexican town, in Christmas Eve, who try to turn the birth of the child of a miserable pair of peasants, literally into the second coming of Jesus. All of this, to make a profit of course. The cinematography is by the legendary Gabriel Figueroa, it is perfectly directed by Francisco del Villar, and it features major performances by Mexican film greats (and Emilio Fernandez regulars) Pedro Armendariz (as a priest)and Columba Dominguez, among others. It is shown once or twice a year in Mexican television, it is well worth looking out for it, as well as for another couple of Del Villar and Arguelles collaborations, Las piranas aman en cuaresma, and La primavera de los Escorpiones.
