Que viva Mexico!
Sergei Mikhailovich Eisenstein / US, MX, 1932
In 1931 Sergei Eisenstein travelled to Mexico to shoot ¡Que viva México! Meant as an episodic study of the country, it was left unfinished and ended up in MOMA’s archives. In 1979, producer Alexandrov edited the unfinished film using Eisenstein’s storyboards. This film is screened to mark the premiere of Peter Greenaway’s Eisenstein in Guanajuato.
In 1931 Eisenstein travelled from the Soviet Union to Mexico on the invitation of American left-wing author Upton Sinclair and his wife Mary Craig. In Mexico, ancient Indian rituals mixed with the ideals of the peasants” and workers” revolution led by Emilio Zapata and Pancho Villa.
The celebrated director of classics like Battleship Potemkin and October wanted to record Mexico”s history in six episodes, beginning with the Conquista and ending with the Mexican Revolution of 1910. Eisenstein filmed in the province of Yucatán, where centuries-old temples, pyramids and statues of gods stood in stark contrast with the conditions of the 20th-century population. When the money ran out, one episode remained unfinished. Eisenstein had to return to the Soviet Union and the footage eventually ended up in the Museum of Modern Art, New York.
Only in 1979 did Eisenstein”s producer Grigori Alexandrov manage to edit the footage following an exchange agreement with MoMA. Alexandrov used Eisenstein”s storyboards as an aid. The elegiac images show how ¡Que viva México! served as inspiration to filmmakers like Alejandro Jodorowsky (El topo) and Sergio Leone (A Fistful of Dollars).
Details
Director
Sergei Mikhailovich Eisenstein
Production year
1932
Country
US, MX
Original title
Que viva Mexico!
Format
16mm
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