 
Madeinusa
Average Rating: 4.0 Total Reviews: 1
More Information
 On: 2007-10-05
This film is based in the fictional indigenous village of Manayaycuna ("the town no-one can enter" in Quechua) in the Andes Mountains. Here, the indigenous people have merged their traditional beliefs with the Catholicism brought to them by the conquistadors, forming a very loose interpretation on what happens between Good Friday and Easter Sunday. In this corrupt town, God dies on Good Friday and is born again on Easter, and between those days there is no sin because God is dead.
The story is centered around a "naïve" 14-year-old girl by the name of Madeinusa (pronounced Ma-den-OO-za) and a migrant worker from Lima who gets stranded in the town for the weekend. He is not welcome here on these Holy Days, and for good reason. God may not see sin, but this town certainly feels as though the outsiders can spoil their fun. A lot of reviews paint this as a love story of sorts, with Madeinusa falling for the gringo, yet in my mind it is a story of a girl, who is fascinated with the stranger because he is different and she is searching for a way out. We can only guess what her life is life the rest of the year outside the Holy Days.
Throw in a father with incestuous plans and a jealous sister and you get a strange tale that will bring you to a surprising conclusion. I found this to be an interesting tale, yet feel it is important not to take away the idea that anything is inherently wrong with the cultural beliefs of the indigenous people of Peru, even if they are taken together with Catholicism. Roman Catholicism is the official religion of Peru and plays a major role in Peruvian culture, but in many areas it is intricately mixed with facets of Inca beliefs, annual celebrations of village patron saints days often coincide with preconquest harvest observances that really gives communities their own character.
On: 2007-10-04
This film is based in the fictional indigenous village of Manayaycuna ("the town no-one can enter" in Quechua) in the Andes Mountains. Here, the indigenous people have merged their traditional beliefs with the Catholicism brought to them by the conquistadors, forming a very loose interpretation on what happens between Good Friday and Easter Sunday. In this corrupt town, God dies on Good Friday and is born again on Easter, and between those days there is no sin because God is dead.
The story is centered around a "naïve" 14-year-old girl by the name of Madeinusa (pronounced Ma-den-OO-za) and a migrant worker from Lima who gets stranded in the town for the weekend. He is not welcome here on these Holy Days, and for good reason. God may not see sin, but this town certainly feels as though the outsiders can spoil their fun. A lot of reviews paint this as a love story of sorts, with Madeinusa falling for the gringo, yet in my mind it is a story of a girl, who is fascinated with the stranger because he is different and she is searching for a way out. We can only guess what her life is life the rest of the year outside the Holy Days.
Throw in a father with incestuous plans and a jealous sister and you get a strange tale that will bring you to a surprising conclusion. I found this to be an interesting tale, yet feel it is important not to take away the idea that anything is inherently wrong with the cultural beliefs of the indigenous people of Peru, even if they are taken together with Catholicism. Roman Catholicism is the official religion of Peru and plays a major role in Peruvian culture, but in many areas it is intricately mixed with facets of Inca beliefs, annual celebrations of village patron saints days often coincide with preconquest harvest observances that really gives communities their own character.
|
|
