07 · 31 · 25

1968 and the new narratives in feature films

Rafael Aviña

The year 1968 and its representative climax, the Tlatelolco massacre on October 2nd, represent one of the most intriguing topics, yet this subject remains underrepresented in fiction cinema. Recently, We Shall Not Be Moved (2024) premiered, directed by Pierre Saint-Martin, a graduate of the National School of Film Arts. Set in the present day, it tells the story of a seventy-year-old lawyer’s obsession with finding the soldier who took her teenage brother’s life at the Plaza de las Tres Culturas in 1968. The film incorporates iconic footage from the most significant documentary about these events: El grito (1968-70), directed by Leobardo López Arretche and co-directed by Alfredo Joskowicz. Filming took place between July and October 1968, and the documentary was produced by the University Center of Film Studies (CUEC in Spanish, now known as ENAC).       

Before the new millennium, the events of 1968 were viewed with reverence, and films focused on the epicenter of the events, as seen in Jorge Fons’ impactful Red Dawn (1989), scripted by Xavier Robles and Guadalupe Ortega. Francisca/¿De qué lado estás? (2001) by Eva López Sánchez began to revisit this theme in the 2000s, blending politics and romance. It opens with scenes from El grito. Although the plot starts in 1971, the year the Halconazo happened, the film centers on a former East Germany secret agent who arrives in Mexico using a false identity. The Mexican secret police force him to infiltrate a group of university student political activists who survived 1968. During this mission, the agent falls in love with one of the activists, a young woman. 

Just like We Shall Not Be Moved, Borrar de la memoria (2010) by Alfredo Gurrola is set in the present to reconstruct the events of 1968 through two parallel fictional stories inspired by real-life events: the murder and dismemberment of a young woman who was “packed”, and her connection to the student movement. The story also follows a restless cinematographic news cameraman and former CUE student who was hired to film the October 2nd, 1968 events from the rooftop of Tlatelolco’s International Relations building. This storyline unfolds within a thriller written by a contemporary “red news”¹ journalist, exploring how the shadows of political repression continue to linger. 

Here are some fun facts: The Similars (2015) by Isaac Ezban, which begins early in the morning on October 2nd, 1968, at a bus station in an unnamed town where people acquire different faces in this disturbing fantasy tale. Meanwhile, Los rollos perdidos (2011) attempts to emulate the work of Michael Moore (Bowling for Columbine); director Gibrán Bazán assumes the role of a kind of filmmaker-police investigator. Through reenactments, hypotheses, and the testimonies from Cineteca Nacional workers, officials, and other industry figures, Bazán suggests that the 1982 fire at the Cineteca was planned to destroy footage of the October 2nd massacre allegedly hidden in the vaults and filmed by director Servando González and a small crew.

In contrast, Tlatelolco, Summer of 68 (2013) by Carlos Bolado centers on a romantic story unfolding during the events of 1968: a low-income architecture student at UNAM meets a young woman who is a communication student at Ibero-American University and is passionate about photography. He father works for President Gustavo Díaz Ordaz, and she documents the street events with her camera. Rather than being an adaptation of Romeo and Juliet set in 1968 Tlatelolco, the story is a variation on another film by the same writers and producers: Fernando Sariñana and Carolina Rivera: Amar te duele [Love Hurts] (2002)  

However, Olimpia (2018) by José Manuel Cravioto, a rotoscope film, presents a story set on September 19th, 1968, when the army occupied Ciudad Universitaria. Through the intertwined stories of several young men and women, the film uses their photographs, films, actions, and writings to reveal their most personal and human side.

Finally, We Shall Not Be Moved, with its intriguing black-and-white cinematography, stands out essentially for Luisa Huertas’ splendid acting performance; without a doubt, the best aspect of a film that seamlessly blends personal-family story, suspense, and black humor. In her role as Socorrito, a determined elderly lawyer, Huertas must deal not only with the ghosts of 1968 but also her strained relationship with her sister, her indecisive and apathetic son whose wife is pregnant, and above all, with today’s Mexico justice system, which remains as corrupt and repugnant as it was during the PRI era of Díaz Ordaz.

Translated by Abigail Puebla

Translator's Notes

1. TN: Nota roja (“red note” or “red news”) is a journalism genre popular in Mexico that focuses almost exclusively on stories related to physical violence related to crime, accidents, and natural disasters.