Las abandonadas

Dolores Del Rio is absolutely stunning to watch in this melodrama of a suffering woman, directed by the great Emilio Fernandez and shot by the equally great Gabriel Figueroa. The plural in the title tells us that her story stands for the stories of others like her. At its best the film evokes the powerful portraits of victimised women in the work of Kenji Mizoguchi, though at one point one is reminded of the more contrived soap opera of Madame X, when her long lost son grows up to be a lawyer and she watches him in court, he later sees her in a crowd and gives her a coin, not knowing the poor woman is his mother. The episodic story is told efficiently and is well paced.

I found nothing fresh or interesting about this film with the exception of the setting. There are some nods at revolutionary Mexico in costume and external scenes.

Otherwise it's a highly predictable melodrama that was nominated for best picture at the Ariel Awards in what I consider an embarrassing mistake.

From beginning to end, every predictable urban tragedy happens to her. She's ill-used by rich or powerful men, she's forced to abandon her chylde, she loses her husband. And there's a lot of manufactured strawman drama. She and others make problems over minor things and then she "heroically" overcomes these false problems.

Pedro Armendariz plays a character he seems to have been typecast into during this decade - a general in the Mexican revolution. It's a pointless little sidestory that was just included to pander to the interests of the era. As is the whole gaiden where he takes the protagonist as his concubine and lavishes her with all sorts of gifts and kindness. The whole movie constructs a chyldish fantasy and empty melodrama just to appeal to the lowest common denominator in a very amateur fashion.

Perdro Armendariz was good in his role even though by now one would get sick of seeing him acting the same and in the same role in every movie and wondering if he's part of some cinematic universe or something; Dolores del Rio is a one-note actress who always has this expression of pained quiet resignation no matter what.

They keep playing La Barca de Oro again and again in different versions, ostensibly because the general "loves that song." I don't know if they were referencing something or if it's because they were too cheap to buy the rights to other songs. Did they have to buy rights to songs back then though?

Competently constructed, but it's so basic and bland that it's not worth watching.

Honourable Mentions: Enamorada (1946). Pedro Armendariz plays the same character but at least the movie has a point and direction. It's supposed to be an allegorical exploration of tenuous union between rich and poor in Mexican society. Not a great movie either, but much more worthy than this one.