Dance of the 41

It's not often I sit through the credits at the end of a film. Usually I'm up and out of the armchair to make a cup of tea or whatever. This film was different and the ending was mundane but devastating for the viewer and the main male character.

The film is a heavily fictionalised version of a real event, that of a police raid on a party held by high society homosexuals. Ignacio de la Torre, the son-in-law of the then President, was meant to have been one of the participants. This much is known to history and from IMDB's résumé. From these bare bones, a whole film is woven as a prelude to the raid.

Ignacio holds a high position in society partly through his own wealth and partly through the patronage of his wife's father. Some things about his true life are known, that he and his wife led separate lives, for example, and were only together in public; in private they occupied different wings of their mansion. From this gossamer thread a love story emerges that may not even be true - we cannot be sure that Evaristo Rivas had a relationship with Ignacio or was even present when the ball was busted as the names of the participants were withheld. It doesn't matter. A whole, tender story of forbidden love is recounted by the film, a love that is unacknowledgeable in Mexican society at the time.

The film doesn't hold back. It shows the horror of a gay man trying to sleep with his wife. It shows the hatred that slowly grows out of resentment on both sides of a chaste marriage. It shows how happiness can be shattered in an instant by bigotry and ignorance.

The two male leads were stupendous and didn't skimp their roles. Those kisses were real. Their glances, their interaction, their physical moments together were the opposite of contrived. Mabel Cadena playing Amada, Ignacio's wife, visibly aged during her time of calvary. Her face and bearing changed convincingly from those of a pretty young bride to those of a bitter and spurned woman.

The sets and costumes were magnificent. I actually wondered if some of the scenes were filmed in real buildings, so convincing were the locations. The minor characters, even, were somewhat fleshed out rather than simply being drivers of the plot.

I loved this film and would recommend it.

The movie is well made but there is definitely a lack of vision. It seems like every shot if an hommage of everything that has already been done before and by someone who has an extensive background on advertisement. It's pretty but it feels empty. It is extremely obvious the way they want to punctuate the "stiff" life and the "joy" of the underground life but it never feels authentic. Many of the performances feel wooden as if they were making sure we understand what they want to convey, instead of pulling us into the story. We don't even get to extensively see the joy of the dance and we don't see the consequences and humilliation inflicted in them either. It's not terrible but it is not a movie that successfully tells an engaging and believable story and the never-ending parade of "artsy" shots are just too much.

An interesting film. I'm left wondering how true it was to the real story upon which it was based.

I found some of the portrayals of gay men rather cliché. And while the gay men in the film had my sympathy, I couldn't help feeling equally sorry for all the women who've suffered as beards through the Ages. Used. Deceived. Unloved. Betrayed. Wasted on men that didn't really want to be married to them.

This film left me confused & sad. I'm grateful that in my lifetime many countries have legalized gay marriage.

Brief summary

Remarkable approach from the melodrama centered on a love triangle of a social, political and sexual scandal that occurred in Mexico in 1901. A dazzling staging and a first-class script and performances in a film with Viscontian echoes.

A testimony of the homoodium of that time (which did not stop at class privileges) and which continues to have renewed echoes in the present that are far from being silenced, particularly in countries like Mexico and many others.

Review

The film begins with the lavish engagement party of the ambitious deputy Ignacio de la Torre (Ignacio Herrera) with Amada, the daughter of Mexican president Porfirio Díaz (Mabel Cadena) back in 1900. What nobody knows yet is that Ignacio is a A covered homosexual who attends a kind of clandestine gay club and ends up linking up with Evaristo Rivas (Emiliano Zurita), an employee of Congress.

This remarkable film by David Pablos brings together a host of successes. First, because it bets on melodrama to address a scandalous historical event that occurred in 1901 in Mexico City and that no one had dared to address, concentrating the plot on the love triangle that Torres, Amada (a true irony that was called that) and Rivas constitute. , with its progressive and complementary stories of love and heartbreak. However, the scenes that take place in the club are enough to describe the profile of its members, their codes, their dynamics and the activities that took place there. On the other hand, the socio-political context is very clearly exposed and without annoying underlining. This approach marks a huge difference from Hollywood "fact-based" products that are information-saturated in their all-encompassing claim that produces schematic developments of their characters.

Monika Revilla's script (not coincidentally also the scriptwriter of Someone has to die) is extremely precise, in a story where the characters speak only what is necessary.

The staging is dazzling: the setting and the costumes conveniently place us in the high social extract of the characters, the photography is wonderful and the director achieves an accumulation of effective, expressive and virtuous sequences that accompany, when necessary, to their characters. As in all good melodrama, irony and a certain bitter humor are not lacking, as in an anthological scene in which Amada plays the piano.

The performances of the protagonists are very good, in characters that present various nuances within their well-defined profiles in a story that is a true pressure cooker.

Dance of the 41 is a testimony, on the one hand, of how not even money and privileges could put a free and private sex life absolutely safe from homophobia, homo-hate and the derision of the political, religious and social establishment of the Mexico (and the world) of then and that continues to have renewed echoes in the present that are far from being silenced, particularly in countries like Mexico.

"El baile de los 41" is a great film based on true events, a great love story about two men and their gay friends, a tale about homophobia and some events that still happen in this days, closeted gay men married with ladies. The production is amazing, the cinematography and filming locations are beautiful, the music score is wonderful, the performances are great, mainly Alfonso Herrera, Emiliano Zurita and Mabel Cadena and the direction is really good. A modern gay classic movie based on sad true events! The best Mexican film of the 2020!