Gods of Mexico
Structured in three symphonic movements, this panoramic portrait of Mexico and its peoples from first-time director Helmut Dosantos is visually ravishing and superbly crafted, as much cinematic poem as ethnographic documentary. Also serving as cinematographer and editor, Dosantos switches between color and monochrome as he wordlessly examines the professions, rituals, costumes and lifestyles of Mexico’s indigenous rural population, pointedly labeling chapters with the names of Aztec gods as well as geographic region. Dosantos may dispense with language, but these painterly tableaux speak volumes about the soul of a nation.
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- Notes From OscilloscopeIn the spirit of the nonnarrative, dialogue-free, nonfiction films of Godfrey Reggio, Ron Fricke, and others, Helmut Dosantos’s GODS OF MEXICO presents a gorgeous snapshot of a Mexico unfamiliar to most people—we travel through its many states—and presents the peoples and their cultures as the diverse world that it is, without ever exoticizing them. The film is a visual and aural feast and communicates a full-fledged story without ever resorting to the typical understanding of how we think a narrative is supposed to be told.
