And unjustly forgotten character in Mexican culture
It was the actress and dancer Rosaura Revueltas, who participated in the legendary film The salt of the earth, for which she was arrested and mercilessly deported
of the United States, and for 20 years that followed that filming he was erased from the national cinematographic panorama
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The life and legacy of the cultural manager, as well as her risky participation in the film that celebrates seven decades of having been filmed, was remembered in the series of conversations 70th anniversary. Salt of the Earth (1954), by Herbert Biberman. Rosaura Revueltas in cinema: life and work, with the intervention of photographer Christa Cowrie; Eva Bodenstedt, granddaughter of Revueltas, and the director, writer and film researcher Víctor Ugalde.
In the main hall of the National Center for the Arts (Cenart), the clear and confident voice of Rosaura Revueltas was heard from an interview conducted by Radio UNAM years ago: I never cared about making the film because I was acting as the lead actress, because I knew that with that film I would lose my career. So I did it with all the awareness of doing something for the Mexican people in the United States and to denounce what is still current now. That film is still valid and the problems are not over. So I did it with full knowledge of the facts. If circumstances arose again, I would do the same.
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Chases
The artist related: We suffered many persecutions, even from the Ku Klux Klan, all of us who were involved in the filming of the film. And it ended with them arresting me, keeping me in custody in a third-class hotel room, under surveillance 24 hours a day.
. She was then deported to Mexico.
Regarding Revueltas and the iconic feature film, Ugalde highlighted: “There are films that mark our lives or at least redirect them. It is the case of The salt of the earth, that marked the path in the acting and life of Rosaura Revueltas, of her director Biberman and, in another more modest way, also of mine.”
The historical context
Ugalde outlined the world historical context 70 years ago. We are in the post-war era and we have experienced the effects of the global conflagration with its more than 40 million dead civilians and 20 million soldiers. The world wants peace, stability and development, but also a fairer planet
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Furthermore, “the confrontation between first world countries against socialism; war of propaganda, of betrayal, of deception, where the righteous will pay for sinners to serve as an example, and The salt of the earth “It is one of the best examples of this dispute.”
This film shows the living conditions and discrimination of the Anglo and Chicano miners and how they won the strike. Something atypical for the time, spreading a triumph of the working class was to receive the affront of big American capital, in addition to demonstrating that a more just world could be promoted.
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Biberman, said Ugalde, created a film ahead of its time; time of the invasion of Guatemala by the United States, the division of Vietnam in two and the arrival of American troops to train the puppet government of South Vietnam. That was the scenario
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The movie It was filmed by non-professional actors who were great and with some professionals. This is today’s bread and butter for contemporary filmmakers, but we are talking about a film from 70 years ago. The heroine and protagonist was a woman, Esperanza Quintero, whose character anticipates women’s liberation, so current.
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From the beginning The filming was surveilled, harassed and finally canceled by FBI agents. The trap for Rosaura was when he went through the New Mexico border customs and handed over his passport so that his entry could be certified, but it was improperly pretended and it was not done. Later, when the FBI showed up at the filming to verify, they arrested the director for his anti-American activities and the Mexican actress for having entered illegally.
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In summary, Ugalde said, the film was considered subversive and leftist. It was a great act of courage, conviction and modernity in the sense of defending feminist values in cinema for the first time, as well as an early manifestation of the emancipation of women among the wives of the workers, whose role in the strike was important. despite initial opposition from their husbands
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The salt of the earthCowrie stated, It is an art film; This is shown by its permanent exhibition in movie theaters after seven decades of being filmed in Silver City, New Mexico. It is a film that expresses, with greatness, how human beings transform themselves through social struggle. The marriage of Juan Chacón and Esperanza finds another meaning based on gender equality; It shows the great effort of the woman to leave her condition as a housewife and discover her own light and inner strength.
The value of the tape lies in the fact that being the document of a strike, it reveals how women are liberated in the midst of a society of workers, in this case the miners of New Mexico.
stressed the Mexican-German photographer specialized in documenting dance and theater in the country.
Rosaura Revueltas (1910-1996), who made her revolutionary, social and cultural commitment visible in The salt of the earthalso unveiled the work of his brother Silvestre and the edition of José’s first novel, The walls of water. She was cultural manager of the work of her brothers and of her own artistic history. She was in charge of safeguarding in her archive every vestige of her professional life in dance, theater and film.
The next talk at the Cenart about the actress will be on June 27 in the same auditorium, which is complemented by the exhibition The force of creation: Rosaura Revueltascurated by Miriam Káiser and Saudhi Batalla, which is exhibited at the Jesús Reyes Heroles Culture House until July 7.