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El principio

Name: El principio
Director: Gonzalo Martínez Ortega
Released: 1973
Duration: 135 min

Representation Score

5.7/10

Fair

1973

Director

Gonzalo Martínez Ortega

Runtime

135 minutes

Average Rating

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New Showbiz Analysis

Gonzalo Martínez Ortega’s film serves as a historical examination of power, focusing on the systemic failures of Mexico. The narrative effectively challenges the traditional hero's journey by emphasizing institutional corruption and state violence. The film excels in its cultural and racial focus, using the Mexican Revolution to critique authoritarianism. It provides a meaningful perspective on the internal struggles of a Mexican community fighting against local oppression. While the film offers strong political and ethnic ability to act, it lacks explicit representation of LGBTQ+ identities or disabilities. Women are depicted both as politically active and subject to traditional objectification.

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Category Breakdown

Does El principio have LGBTQ+ representation?

Limited

The film explores non-traditional social spaces, such as a local brothel. There is no clear indication of characters with specific LGBTQ+ identities.

How does El principio portray gender?

Fair

Women play a significant role in political resistance. However, the brothel setting suggests they may still face traditional gender hierarchies and objectification.

How racially and ethnically diverse is El principio?

Good

The story focuses on a mestizo and indigenous social fabric during the Mexican Revolution. It avoids a white-centric lens by highlighting local struggles against dictatorship.

How does El principio represent religion and culture?

Excellent

The narrative critiques corrupt state institutions and colonial-style hierarchies. It emphasizes the struggle against dictatorship and capitalist structures.

Does El principio include disability representation?

Minimal

There is no clear evidence of physical or neurodivergent disabilities being portrayed in the film.

Present on Screen

Strong racial and ethnic focus through the lens of the Mexican Revolution.
Effective critique of institutional corruption and dictatorial power structures.
Meaningful depiction of female political ability to act through organized resistance.

Limited or Absent

Lack of explicit LGBTQ+ representation or queer-coded character arcs.
No discernible representation of physical or neurodivergent disabilities.
Potential for female characters to be relegated to traditional objectified roles.

Official Synopsis

Mexico is in the midst of Revolution when the protagonist returns after studying in Paris to find his native town in Chihuahua occupied by Francisco Villa’s revolutionary forces. He visits his deserted home and remembers people and events from his adolescence that provide glimpses of pre-Revolutionary society under dictatorship: his uncle, the chief of police; his sister’s involvement with a liberal political association; bathing with the girls from a local brothel; a labor strike that ended in a massacre. Returning to the present he discovers that his father has been assassinated and, in the company of his father’s former servant, joins the revolutionary movement.

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