Macario (film)

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Macario is a 1960 Mexican supernatural drama film directed by Roberto Gavaldón and starring Ignacio López Tarso and Pina Pellicer. It is based on the novel of the same name by B. Traven, set in the Viceroyalty of New Spain (modern-day Mexico).

It was the first Mexican film to be nominated for an Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film. It was also entered into the 1960 Cannes Film Festival. The film received criticism in Mexico when released because it was considered a film made for the foreign viewer. The film was released when Mexico was experiencing a nationalist era of cinema.

The story centers on Macario, a poor indigenous woodcutter, during Colonial Mexico, who lives enraged for being so poor. His economic situation keeps him and his family at the edge of starvation. After he sees a procession of roast turkeys, his dream is to eat a whole roast turkey just by himself. He announces in front of his wife and children that he will not eat until his dream comes true. His worried wife steals a turkey and gives it to Macario before he heads to the mountains to work.

However, just as Macario prepares to eat the turkey, three men appear to him. The first one is the Devil in the guise of a fine gentleman, who tempts Macario in order to get a piece of the turkey. The second one is God in the guise of an old man. Macario refuses to share the turkey with either, since he believes that they both have the means necessary to get themselves what they want.

When a third figure —a peasant like himself— appears to him, he gladly shares the turkey with the man. The third man is none other than Death itself. Death is unsure why Macario has shared his turkey with him and not with the Devil and God. Macario responds, "Whenever you appear, there is no time for anything else." Macario hoped to forestall what he assumed to be his imminent death by gaining the time it would take for him and Death to eat. Death is amused and as a compensation, names Macario his "friend" and gives him miraculous water that will heal any disease. If Death appears at the feet of the sick person, they can be healed with the water - but if Death appears by the person's head he or she is condemned to die. This "friendship" lasts for years, but they never speak to each other, but merely stare.