1940 – Ahí está el detalle (You’re missing the point)
The movie is a mexican comedy, directed by Juan Bustillo Oro. It stars the great “mexican Charlie Chaplin” Cantinflas (Mario Moreno) as himself with a great supporting staff. It is his breakout role, even though he had portrayed this character in many skits and even films before. I saw it on YouTube for free thanks to the restoration of Cineteca of the UNAM from material of Televisa A.C.
The week between Christmas and New Year’s is a black hole for productivity. It’s often a period of lounging from food coma to food coma and boring family visits; kids running around, adults getting out some whiskey with a snicker, everybody trying out their new Christmas presents, whether it is clothes, toys, perfumes, etc. In the background there is some movie playing that always plays during that time and you take it in, sometimes non-consciously, sometimes jumping into the middle or not finishing it.
Even last year, that’s how I spent my week, with my mother in law on her last Christmas (she passed away in April) – watching the original Sissi marveling at the beauty of Romy Schneider or Little Lord Fauntleroy with Alec Guiness, a staple of movies shown that week. I guess in the US, they probably watch It’s a Wonderful Life on Christmas and The Sound of Music over that week.
Well, growing up in Guatemala, back when we didn’t have cable or were visiting relatives that didn’t have cable, it was Cantinflas time. I don’t remember details of what I saw, it’s more like feelings, like watching the one where he gets to become a pilot at my aunt’s place with my dad, while my cousin had fallen asleep next to me. The shtick of Cantinflas movies is always the same – he gets in a situation way above his vagrant status (e.g. becoming an ambassador, a musqueteer, a congressman, an anthlete, a prince, a movie star, a priest, etc.) and hilariousness ensues. Yes, in Guatemala Cantinflas is cult, even if it is a Mexican figure! And growing up even as kids, you copied the mannerisms of him, his affected way of speaking hilariously mocked in the kids program Chiquilladas, which I also saw as a kid by Carlos Espejel’s Carlinflas. I personally like Chespirito much more and he is (sort of) more of my time, but you have got to acknowledge the tremendous influence he had over Mexican cinema and Latin-America as a whole.
So for 1940, I was almost ready to watch The Philadelphia Story (ah, yes, yet another screwball comedy with Cary Grant…), when I saw the Cantinflas movie way down. Hey, I hadn’t seen that one, and it’s the one that made him famous, so off I go into nostalgia territory.
I had a blast! I do understand that this movie is probably not for everybody, especially non-native spanish speakers as so much of the comedy is wordplay (very simple wordplay, but nonetheless). One thing I like, is that Cantinflas is not perfect, in fact, he becomes a quite despicable character when he’s drunk. He takes advantage of people, he’s lazy, always looks out for himself. But in the end, you can’t help to love the doofus. There’s a reason he became so famous and it’s different from the US-American brand, very Latin-American coded, yet he truly makes it his own (even if he apparently became quite insufferable in his opinions in old age, which thankfully I didn’t consciously experience).
But can I recommend this to anybody? Like, if you want to get to know this “Cantinflas” phenomenon? There are probably better, more visual stories from him that don’t rely on the word play comedy as much, so no, not anybody. But this one goes right up among the best old movies I have seen this year and it’s just the combination of situation comedy, wordplay, but good old nostalgia playing a role. For a little while, I was a kid in Guatemala again, just enjoying the simple life of watching an old movie on the basic local channels.
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