You are here:

The Beginning and the End

Name: The Beginning and the End
Director: Arturo Ripstein
Released: 1994
Duration: 187 min

Representation Score

6.9/10

Good

1994

Director

Arturo Ripstein

Runtime

187 minutes

Average Rating

No ratings yet

New Showbiz Analysis

Arturo Ripstein’s drama succeeds as a gritty character study of systemic and familial decay. It avoids sanitized depictions of domestic life, opting instead for a complex exploration of how socioeconomic environments shape human actions. The film earns credit for its refusal to present a Westernized view of middle-class struggle. By focusing on the specific cultural and class contexts of a Mexican family, it provides a nuanced, regional perspective. However, the film remains limited by its narrow thematic focus. It lacks representation for LGBTQ+ identities and disability, adhering to a traditional, straight-centered framework centered on maternal instinct and survival.

Watch this, not that →

Category Breakdown

Does The Beginning and the End have LGBTQ+ representation?

Limited

The story focuses on biological survival and family preservation. There is no evidence of non-straight or non-cisgender identities or same-sex relationships in the main storyline.

How does The Beginning and the End portray gender?

Fair

Ignacia disrupts traditional gender roles as a strong, active protagonist. She leads her family's survival through tough, strategic decisions.

How racially and ethnically diverse is The Beginning and the End?

Good

The film offers a localized Mexican perspective that avoids a Western viewpoint. It emphasizes a regional reality by centering a non-Anglo-Saxon cast.

How does The Beginning and the End represent religion and culture?

Good

The story deconstructs the idealized family, showing it as a place of burden and tragedy. It highlights how systemic poverty strains traditional social structures.

Does The Beginning and the End include disability representation?

Limited

There is no significant evidence of characters with visible or invisible disabilities playing central roles in the plot.

Present on Screen

Challenges the 'stable family' myth by portraying domestic life as a site of sacrifice and tragedy.
Provides a deeply localized Mexican perspective that avoids the Western gaze.
Features a strong female protagonist who challenges passive caregiver stereotypes.

Limited or Absent

Lacks representation of LGBTQ+ identities or non-conforming gender expressions.
Provides no significant presence of characters with visible or invisible disabilities.
Relies on a traditional straight-centered framework for its central narrative arc.

Official Synopsis

The film tells the story of the Boteros, a middle-class Mexican family struggling against poverty after their father's death. Ignacia (Egurrola) is the Boteros mother, a desperate woman who chooses to sacrifice the destiny of her three older children, in order to protect Gabriel (Laguardia) the youngest one. She believes Gabriel will climb the social structure and bring back the lost fortune to the family. But destiny has other plans for the Boteros and tragedy will overcome eventually. Based on the novel of Nobel Prize winner Naguib Mahfouz.

How are these scores produced? →