One can often hear lamenting the tendency in film to portray Mexico, and especially its capital, Mexico City, as a threatening, bleak place where human life has no value. Such concerns are as old as film itself, first raised in reaction to the roughly 30-second film “Mexico City Tragedy.” Pistol duel From 1896. The French title is due to the French director. Gabriel Valea pioneer and contemporary of the film Lumiere Brothers From France they first traveled to Latin America to screen their early works.
During his travels, Weill screened Lumiere films and also produced his own: “Between 1896 and 1897, he directed and produced 35 films in Mexico.” Jared Wheeler of Moviegoings writes:“Many of these films depict the daily activities of Mexican President Porfirio Diaz.” Pistol duel This was “probably a re-enactment of the famous duel that took place in September 1894 between Colonel Francisco Romero and Postmaster General José Verastegui,” in which Romero had apparently overheard Verastegui accuse not only of sleeping with the wife of a mutual friend, but also of conspiring to get that same friend a government position.
Romero, dishonored, challenged Verastegui to a duel at Chapultepec Park. Although dueling was technically illegal at the time, it was still a common practice and was “governed by a complex system of social norms that was a source of national pride for some as a symbol of Mexico’s modernity and its affinity with other European countries, such as France.” But if the duel was recreated and filmed in a way that was removed from its cultural context, “will other countries recognize it as an honorable and dignified ritual, or will they only see it as a symbol of the violence and barbarism that characterizes everyday Mexican life?”
What still remains in my memory is Pistol duel (Color version Re-released some 130 years after its premiere, Death of a Duellist (see above) is less striking for its Mexican feel than for its startling realism, leading some modern audiences to question whether it is even a re-enactment. “Many have commented on the naturalness of the duellist’s death,” Wheeler writes. “It was one of the first to be depicted on screen, and it contrasts sharply with the melodramatic style that was more typical of the period.” In reality, Verastegui’s loss and Romero’s subsequent trial and imprisonment certainly marked the end of Mexico’s era of duelling, but the history of on-screen violence was only just beginning.
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The final duel took place in France in 1967 and was captured on film.
Based in Seoul, Colin MaOnershall Writing and broadcastingHe has written papers on cities, languages, and cultures, and his projects include the Substack newsletter. Books about cities And books A city without a state: Walking through 21st-century Los Angeles. Follow us on Twitter CollinhamOnershall or Facebook.
