Pedro Paramo, the latest Mexican movie released in Netflix, is based on a famous Magical Realism novel written by Juan Rulfo in 1955.
The surreal story brings out the Mexican culture which has blended the indigenous roots with that of the invaders and colonisers from Spain. It explores life and death and ghosts and spirits reminding us of the Dia do los Muertos (day of the dead) when dead ancestors are remembered in Mexico. At the same time there is the culture of the Spanish colonists who took over the land of the indigenous people and exploited them.
The story starts with Juan Preciado, who promises his mother on her deathbed that he would go to the town of Comala to look for his father Pedro Paramo, whom he had never met. When he reaches the town he finds it ghostly. He encounters friends and the other family members of Paramo who tell him fragments of the life of his father. But some of these characters disappear when he is talking to them. He learns that his father was a landlord who ruled the area with his ruthless methods of land acquisition and murders. His father was also tormented by the death of his boyhood sweet heart Susana who turns mad after the murder of her husband by Paramo.
I had read the novel two decades back but found it difficult to understand and appreciate. Having learnt more about Mexican culture over the years, the movie has helped me to understand the novel better.
Pedro Paramo is considered as the precursor to the boom of Magical Realism genre novels of Latin America in the second half of the last century. Gabriel Garcia Marquez drew inspiration after reading Juan Rulfo’s work. The legendary Argentine writer Luis Borges has called Pedro Paramo as one of the greatest works of literature.
The main actor in the film Manuel Garcia Rulfo is distantly related to the novelist.
Music for the film has been composed by Gustavo Santaolalla, the Argentine who had directed the music for the Indian film ‘Dhobi Ghat’
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