La inocente

La Inocente(1972) is a solid tear jerker drama starring Mercedes Carreno and Lilia Michel. Once you get past the bizarre, corny surface, it's an engaging melodrama. Mercedes/Meche Carreno plays Constancia, an adult woman who suffers from Down syndrome. She has a childlike innocence and natural beauty. Michel plays Alicia, Constancia's loving, stressed out mother. Lorena Velazquez is quite good as an evil stepmother. Raul Lavista's music score for La Inocente is super. Constancia's theme music is catchy. There's some 1970's hard rock in some scenes. It sounds like Canned Heat, Jimi Hendrix, and Iron Butterfly showing up for a gig. Carreno has appeared nude in many films. In this film, all we see is a couple shots of her underpants. Carreno could have ruined the film by winking at the camera and camping things up. She gives a sincere performance in the film. When Constancia gets raped, I couldn't stop crying for days. There are lighter scenes with Meche Carreno eating junk food and playing with dogs and cats. The film was directed by veteran Rogelio A. Gonzalez Jr. La Inocente is an underrated drama from 1970's Mexico.