Director: Emilio Ferna´ndez
Mexico | 1951 | Narrative | Spanish w/English subtitles | 99 mins
First thing: just watch this trailer and tell me you don’t want to see this movie. You know you do!
Rarely screened in the United States and long due for rediscovery, Victims of Sin is famed Mexican director Emilio Ferna´ndez’s unique blend of film noir, melodrama, and musical. Acting/dancing sensation Nino´n Sevilla plays Violeta, a cabaret performer who adopts an abandoned child, forcing her to give up her career. A kindhearted club owner saves her from a life of poverty and prostitution, but things get complicated when the baby’s father – Rodolfo, the murderous pimp – is freed from prison and seeks to reclaim his son. Best known for the award-winning Mari´a Candelaria (1944), Ferna´ndez infuses Victims with impassioned songs and performances by Sevilla, an icon of Mexican cinema and a purveyor of African, Caribbean, and Cuban dance styles. She dominates and illuminates the screen in every frame.
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