Let's go with Pancho Villa! (film iVámonos con Pancho Villa! And undying images of Revolution) Let's go with Pancho Villa! Film iVámonos con Pancho Villa! and undying images of Revolution
Abstract
The essay discusses Mexican film Vámonos con Pancho Villa (1936) directed by Fernando de Fuentes within the context of Mexican society and its historical development. Generals of the Mexican Revoution, including Francisco "Pancho" Villa and Emilliano Zapata, have become central characters in the grand narrative of the Mexican nation and its emergence.
Since 1920's, they were coopted into the national pantheon of heroes, through which the party PRI (Partido Revolucionario Institucional) would impose its legitimacy to power. In 1976, an "alternative" ending of Vámonos con Pancho Villa was discovered.
The found footage problematizes the general's character to such an extent that, based upon the film, we can illustrate the distinction between his historical and mythological body. One demonstrates the cruel pragmatism of war, the other is transcendental, woven by myths and stories, capable of lasting ages.
Until today, images of heroes of the Revolution delineate Mexican public space and are coopted into contemporary struggles. For example, strategy of present day Zapatistas (EZLN) in part relies on complex media image as means of resistance and struggle for their aims which haven't changed much since the Mexican Revolution.