Balibrea Enriquez, Mari Paz (2025) The politics of mysticism and the Mexican Baroque in the Spanish Republican exile film: Cantar de los cantares [Song of Songs] (Manuel Altolaguirre, 1959). L'Atalante. Revista de Estudios Cinematograficos (39), pp. 23-36. ISSN 1885-3730.
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Abstract
Although practically unknown, Cantar de los cantares, the last film directed by Manuel Altolaguirre, is the most representative of his aesthetic and religious interests. Cantar takes the masterpiece of mysticism adapted by Fray Luis de León and recreates and reinterprets it in a Mexican setting. Its plot is essentially a mystical representation of the Bride/Church’s quest for her Bridegroom/God, which leads her through different Mexican natural landscapes and iconic elements of pre-Columbian and (especially) New Spanish Baroque architecture and sculpture. This article begins by analysing the film as a formal exploration of the capacities of cinematic language applied to a classic text of mysticism that reflect developments in film history later defined by Deleuze with the concept of the time-image. It then considers the extent to which Cantar articulates a coherent, celebratory vision of the role of Catholicism and, by extension, the Spanish conquest of Mexico. It concludes by arguing that an interpretation along these lines explains why the film was viewed favourably by the Franco regime and accepted for screening out of competition at the San Sebastián Film Festival in 1959.
Metadata
| Item Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Additional Information: | This article is the English translation of "Políticas de la mística y el barroco mexicano en el cine del exilio republicano: Cantar de los Cantares (Manuel Altolaguirre, 1959)". Diamond Open Access. https://eprints.bbk.ac.uk/id/eprint/55016/ |
| Keyword(s) / Subject(s): | Manuel Altolaguirre, Cantar de los cantares, Colonial Baroque, Mysticism, San Sebastián International Film Festival, Hispanidad, Spanish Republican exile films, Time-image |
| School: | Birkbeck Faculties and Schools > Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences > School of Creative Arts, Culture and Communication |
| Depositing User: | Mari-Paz Balibrea Enriquez |
| Date Deposited: | 27 Feb 2025 13:03 |
| Last Modified: | 26 Apr 2025 08:06 |
| URI: | https://eprints.bbk.ac.uk/id/eprint/55074 |
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