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The lost movie of the week: Nosotros los pobres (1948)

Mexican films have a long history of making social relevant pictures. “Nosotros los pobres“ is no exception on this golden rule.

Two kids take a book from a trash can. They begin to read the story of a poor neighbourhood in Mexico City. Carpenter Pepe lives with his daughter Chachita. Tragedy comes when Pepe is falsely accused of robbery and sent to the jail. (IMDB)

Ismael Rodríguez (“Tizoc”, “Ánimas Trujano”) starts his famous trilogy of Pepe “El Toro.” In which Infante stars as the leading man. This first instalment launched his career as a leading man.  The films is a combination of high melodrama, comedy and tragedy. Ismael Rodríguez portrays in the film the poor and working class in México with an idealized lens. It is part of the Mexican cinema’s golden age. The film is a realistic image of the poor in Mexico and how they tried to survive in a hard world. Rodríguez tries, like we wrote before, to combine different tones. His strengths is that he succeeds in balancing the different tones.

Infante is impressive. The rest of the cast composed of Evita Muñoz “Chachita”Blanca, Estela Pavón and Fernando Soto is excellent.

Ismael Rodríguez and Pedro Infante would later work together again in for example all the other Pepe films and also in “Tizoc” for which Infante (posthumously) won the silver Bear of the Berlin festival.

Stanley Berenboom

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