Guadalupe (2006) Reviews

• not for skeptics

  jojo-acapulco2006-12-02

  A troubled family in Spain, an American archaeologist and others are drawn to Mexico by the story of the Virgin of Guadalupe. These 20th century 'pilgrims' are drawn together and helped in much the same way the Virgin of Guadalupe drew the Spanish and the Mexica together in the 16th century to form a new race, the Mexicans, A gentle dramatization of St. Juan Diego's vision of the Virgin Mary on Tepayac Hill in 1531 is interwoven with the modern action and is appropriately spoken in Nahuatl. For those who are not familiar with this encounter, Juan Diego saw the Virgin on a hill north of Tenochtitlan (now Mexico City) then sacred to the Nahuatl-speaking population. The Virgin told him to ask the Bishop (Zumarraga, with an impressively aquiline nose) for a shrine to be built on that site. The bishop was not impressed at the first or second request, and finally asked Juan Diego to bring a sign. At the third meeting, the Virgin told Juan Diego to return the following day and gather flowers. Unfortunately, his uncle was dying that day and Juan Diego went for help. He took another route in order to avoid the Virgin, but was intercepted by her. The Virgin then said his uncle was cured, and that he should gather flowers -- on cold, rocky Tepeyac in December. He did so, carried them in his blanket to Bishop Zumarraga and, when he opened the cloth, on it was the picture of the Virgin which today may be seen in the Basilica of Guadalupe in Mexico city, visited by 15 million people each year.

• wonderful insight

  speedracer000212006-12-17

  I absolutely enjoyed this movie. The music was great, ( jarocho con la jarana), lots of interesting history facts, wonderful scenery of Tenochtitlan what is now el D.F., Lake Xochimilco, and the hill of Tepeyac. Although the acting was a little cheezy, but hey what can you expect from a bunch of soap opera actors. This movie was also pretty authentic since Juan Diego and the Virgin Mary conversed in Nahualt. Overall, I enjoyed this movie even though it kind of lagged in the beginning. And am really proud to have such a wonderful culture that I can call my own. (mexican culture)... Go out and watch this low advertised film and make the critique for yourself. -erik

• very interesting

  georgebush2006-12-29

  I have seen two films this week which are closely related to Guadalupe. The two are The Nativity Story and Apocalypto. These are a very good trio to see. Guadalupe is a low budget film from Mexico which is off the radar screen in the U.S.A.. I believe it only played in a few theaters in some big cities. Yes, it is low budget and does not have the polish of Hollywood. It does have heart. It does move slowly at times but it is worth it. The subtitles are not well done like in Apocalypto but it works. The movie cleverly intertwines the investigation of the history of an apparition of Mary in Mexico many centuries ago and a modern family. Actually some theories of other explanations that are scientific for the apparition are mentioned in the film so this film is not one sided. Ultimately, there is a very satisfying conclusion for both the family and the investigation. This film received loud applause from the entirely Hispanic audience. This film should have been released in mass with the Nativity Story and Apocalypto. It is obscure now along with another fine movie no one has seen called Gospel of St. John. Apocalypto involves human sacrifices in ancient Mexico and Guadalupe refers frequently to sacrifices as well as the change to Christianity in Mexican history. Also the apparition is of Mother Mary whose origin is covered in The Nativity Story. This is all so great for both Christians and historians and movie buffs. It is too bad there is such low attendance and publicity. This film is a must see.

• Guadalupe Image Remains Inexplicable for the Scientists Nowadays.

  alhernandezt2006-12-20

  Human hands did not paint the image of Our Lady. Some of the scientific studies that have been done to the image are shown in Guadalupe, The film (2006), directed by Santiago Parra. If you are interested in the topic, I recommend you the movie 100%. The film explains that the Image does not have a scientific explanation because: 1. The material of the Image should have deteriorated long ago, but is still intact. 2. The scientists have been unable to determine the origin of the pigments that give color to the picture and how it was painted. 3. It has been possible to discover in both eyes groups of people and objects placed in accordance with the most precise optical laws: Just like in the eyes of a live person. 4. The image was truly a Mexica Codex, a message from heaven loaded with symbols for the Aztecs. It was showing them that a virgin was pregnant with the true God. 5. The sky of the winter solstice, which took place on a Tuesday, December 12, 1531, at 10:30, Mexico City time, is represented very accurately on the Virgin's mantle. The stars on the mantle appear exactly as they would have in the sky at the moment Juan Diego opened his tilma before Bishop Zumárraga on December 12, 1531. 6. The Tilma withstood a concentrated nitric acid spill on in (1791), as well as a bomb blast in 1921. 7. The most important one: The events that followed have never been duplicated before or since anywhere in the world, at any time. We must remember that the Aztecs offered annually at least 20,000 men, women and children in human sacrifice to their gods. In 1487, just in a single 4 days long ceremony for the dedication of a new temple in Tenochtitlan, some 80,000 captives were killed in human sacrifice. Certainly, with Our Lady Image millions of the natives were converted to Christianity in a very short time. Numerous technical examiners of the Holy Tilma converted not only to the True Faith, but also this awareness, when trying to describe God's Mother in earthly terms; they discovered instead the mystery of her presence and mission. Guadalupe is the most frequented Marian shrine in the whole world. Every year up to 20 million pilgrims come to Mexico's capital from all over the world, three times as many as visit Lourdes. Only the Vatican receives more pilgrims. Each December 12, more than 3 million visit Guadalupe shrine. In 2004, 6.5 million attended between December 9 and 12, pilgrimages groups came in buses, bicycles or on foot to the capital, according to local authorities. You can not miss this interesting film.

• Unearthing Guadalupe

  eugene-neiman-12006-12-11

  The other night my wife, who is studying Spanish history, mentioned the "legend" of Guadalupe. A Siglo de Oro story without Juan Diego's tilda and the mass conversion of Aztec's to Catholic Christianity would be a legend, but I do sympathize with my wife, who is not a believer: there is a massive disinterest in religious history unless that history is generally anti-religious and specifically anti-Christian. So in walks this little film from Spain and Mexico, widely labeled as "science fiction" and "mystery", to try to plug the gap in our cultural education. The story is a layering of two stories; that of a brother and sister who, abandoned as children, are working this pain out as adults, and that of the simple Juan Diego who had this fantastic encounter with the Virgin of Guadalupe. The modern story brings out many facts about the ancient story and how it is now viewed by the different societies of Mexico. However, this film works on yet another level to describe yet another abandonment: that of Latin America by Spain after the gold ran out. This is not a new observation, I have heard Cardinal Oscar Andrés Rodríguez Maradiaga, Archbishop of Tegucigalpa speak of it and have read Carlos Fuentes' discussion of this in his history the "The Buried Mirror". The film teases out the abandonment theme through the character of Mercedes, who seems like her brother to be preoccupied with pursuing a career, or more correctly, the illusion of a career. The two are the picture of the perfectly modern Spain, hip, single (his marriage is in name only), looking for intellectual amusements and certainly not interested in being encumbered with family (especially children) or inconvenienced by death. They journey to Mexico on a pretext and find themselves moved by simple Mexican piety while trying to work out the nuts and bolts of its source. There are several lovely scenes in this film. When Mercedes declares to Diego that she is a "foreigner", she neatly underlines the estrangement between Mexico and its parent culture, as does the servant of Aztec descent, Juana (Angelica Aragon) when she retells the history from an Aztec point of view (and steals the show), and in the backbone story of Juan Diego, in particular the performance of José Carlos Ruiz as Juan Diego, with his tender conversations with the Virgin spoken in haunting Nahuatl. Unfortunately there are also lost opportunities. The scene of Juan trying to sneak pass the Virgin, which alone could have been worth the price of admission, is rushed. More fun would have been had if they had worked for the character Karim and he had been a skeptical producer of science documentaries. "Guadalupe" lacks the modernist cinema's reliance on murder, adultery and ghosts that might win a movie such as "Volver" "artistic" awards, but Guadalupe is a little engine that tries. The Guadalupen story that emerges is not so much that of spiritual journeys (these are not real conversions), but that of how a syncretic culture was born of an image of a virgin who was not Spanish and not Aztec, but both, and hints this culture may triumph over its pure bred parents. For this reason, this could be a picture for (religious) skeptics. However, in speaking with many voices, the film falls short. Some (unintended?) inside-humor illustrates this. If you follow Diego's wooing of Mercedes, he is most expansive and open in his earliest attempts, which she rejects. When she meets his many siblings, things do not get better (and we are giggling, "¿Está esto al hacienda?"). Diego pulls back and later says, "... and we can have two children" and finally seems to turn the corner with Mercedes. In the end, the Virgin of Guadalupe remains a symbol about which the producers fold a film.