Screen: Quartet of Mexican Vignettes; 'The Roots' Bows at the Fine Arts
The New York Times A.h. Weiler
/vi-assets/static-assets/favicon-d2483f10ef688e6f89e23806b9700298.ico
ALTHOUGH the producers of "The Roots," Mexican-made feature film, which arrived at the Fine Arts Theatre yesterday, have a quartet of tales to spin, they have been artistically and cinematically true to their title. They have ignored the sights and sounds of great cities and watering places made popular in travelogues to concentrate on a variety of Indians in their off-the-beaten-track habitats to depict strikingly their heritage and the strength of a proud and enduring people.Like its nonprofessional, Indian "cast," "The Roots," "Raices" in Spanish, has a few flaws. These are not especially important. The restrained but natural drama projected in "The Roots" is both forceful and effective.A viewer might be vague about the precise location of "The Cows," the initial story that is unfolded. A program note indicates that it takes place in the arid, central Mexican plains where, in a saga that is simplicity itself, an Indian family (Beatriz Flores and Juan de la Cruz) and their infant daughter are scourged by hunger. And, in a pitifully touching scene in which a rural storekeeper refuses to give them enough money for their last possessions to buy milk for their daughter, the proud but indomitable mother "sells" herself as a wet nurse to the child of a city couple.There is little flamboyance or theatricality in this vignette. Like its native players, it comes across as a harsh, unadorned view of life. And, the same must be said of "The One-Eyed Boy," the third episode, a tender and touching story set in Yucatan and dealing with a one-eyed Indian peasant lad who is tormented and beaten by the youngsters in town because they think his affliction a bad omen. A local sorcerer and a pilgrimage to a near-by religious shrine ironically hurt, rather than help the sorely-tried boy. But it should be noted that the scenarists and the performances of Miguel Angel Negron and Antonia Hernandez, as the put-upon youngster and his mother, pointedly illustrate man's in-humanity to man, as well as the faith and superstitions that dominate these unlettered but dedicated people.Although it underlines the strange and mystic faith that moves the Indians of southeast Mexico, "Our Lady," the second story, is a mite vague in stressing that mysticism. It is an odd tale of an American anthropologist, a lady who finds that the conclusions she has drawn do not jibe with the facts.The agonies of a woman in labor being manhandled by a midwife, the understanding devotion of a country doctor to his illiterate but colorful patients, their fire dances and their fierce piety before a copy of the Mona Lisa the anthropologist has given them, are contradictory. She learns, as the doctor and village priest finally tell her, that the educated have not yet begun to understand these so-called "savages."The final story, "The Filly," filmed at the ruins of the Tajin Pyramid near Vera Cruz, appears more theatrical and contrived than the foregoing yarns. But in relating their somber tale of an archaeologist's lust for the nubile daughter of a peasant they have portrayed a curiously exciting and smoldering, if entirely off-beat romance. An observer can't blame our middle-aged, married, love-hungry researcher for chasing the beauteous Alicia del Lago over the ruins of the pyramid. This brunette, doe-eyed, shapely lass obviously has what it takes to fire the passions.A tribute is due to the photographers whose cameras have been focused on out-of-the-way places and picturesque people to make both authentic and interesting. The English subtitles do justice to the Spanish and Indian dialogue but it is the natives and their customs that make "The Roots" a sincere and often exciting introduction to a Mexico not encountered by the tourist. It is a tour well worth taking.

The CastsTHE ROOTS; adapted by Carlos Vejo, Manuel Barbachano, Maria Elena Lazo, Benito Alazraki, J. M. Garcia Ascot and Fernando Espejo; based on the book "El Diosero" by Francisco Gonzales; directed by Senor Alazraki; production supervisor. Carlos Velo; produced by Senor Barbachano and presented by Edward Harrison. At the Fine Arts."The Cows"Martina . . . . . Beatriz FloresEstaban . . . . . Juan de la CruzThe Woman . . . . . Conchita MontesThe Man . . . . . Eduardo UrruchuaDon Remigio . . . . . Juan CanoThe Cousin . . . . . Rafael Ramizez"Our Lady"Jane Davis . . . . . Olympia AlazrakiDr. Gonzales . . . . . Dr. GonzalesMariano . . . . . Juan HernandezThe Priest . . . . . Angel Lara"The One-Eyed Boy"The Boy . . . . . Miguel Angel NegronThe Mother . . . . . Antonia HernandezFamily Friend . . . . . Mario Herrera"The Filly"Xanath . . . . . Alicia del LagoEric . . . . . Carlos Robles GilTeodulo . . . . . Teodulo Gonzalez