Chicanonautica: Sacrificing for the Aztec Empire with Chano and Cantinflas

  

by Ernest Hogan

I think we need a break from all the infernal politics and shameless self-promotion, so why not some chatter about a weird Mexican movie?

I was scrolling down Facebook when I saw a photo of Cantinflas—(I shouldn’t have to explain who he is, but kids and gringos may not have heard of him) a famous Mexican comedian—posing like he was carrying the Aztec Sunstone. From the size of it it could have been the real thing. It was from a movie with a tantalizing title: El Signo de La Muerte.

I Googled it. It was directed by Chano Urueta—a favorite of mine. And it was on YouTube. Sometime I want to make a blood offering to this wondrous age . . .

Once again, Chano delivered. 

It’s a pulpy tale shot in shadowy black&white from 1939. A professor has a cult and underground teocalli (they use the word) where he’s sacrificing virgins to Quetzalcoatl as part of a ritual to “resurrect the Aztec Empire.” Fun!

And some peculiarities:

Cantinflas, and Mendel (first name Manuel) --looks like a Charlie Chaplin wannabe--have star-billing, their names appear before the title, but seem to be included as an afterthought. They never interact with the rest of the cast, and if their scenes were all cut, the plot would remain intact. The way it is with a lot of lucha libre movies, of which Urueta also directed his share. You can imagine the producer saying (in Spanish, of course), “This crime thriller needs something. Call Santo and Blue Demon!”

The only thing that’s missing is a nightclub scene where we’re treated to an entire song and dance number.

During the sacrifices, the virgins’ breasts are bare. Taboos about nipples were different across the border back then. The breasts are also quickly splashed with blood–that was probably chocolate syrup, which would have come in handy for a different kind of ritual.

Also, a bourgeois matron exclaims how wonderful it would be to be sacrificed to the gods!

There are also scenes where actual Aztec artifacts–the Sunstone, the Grand Coatlicue, and others–are shown.

If that weren’t enough, in the inserted comedy scenes, Cantinflas bamboozles Mendel--who plays a typical bumbling investigator--by demonstrating magic powers that are not explained or figured into the story.

So, it’s not just a fun oddity, but has cultural significance, too!

I keep thinking that it would have been better with some additional scenes in which Cantinflas turns out to be an avatar of Quetzalcoatl (or maybe Tezcatlipoca) who has his own ideas about resurrecting the Aztec Empire.

Maybe a remake is in order.

Ernest Hogan is getting ready for the release of his latest story, “A Wild and Wooly Road Trip on Mars,” (another adventure of Paco Cohen, Tejano/Martian mariachi) in Xicanxfuturism: Gritos for Tomorrow / Codex II.