A mama's boy goes to war. What could possibly go wrong? Everything.
Alberto is born in wartime, where his father dies a hero. He grows up effeminate. His mother sends him to military college where Fernando bullies him, but they become friends. When war comes, he has to face his fears.
Acting
Julián Soler's quivering vulnerability is genuinely uncomfortable to watch.
Direction
Cardona squeezes maximum psychological torture from minimal runtime.
Director
René Cardona
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Part of Mexico's 'cabaretera' adjacent wave—films obsessed with national identity and proper masculinity during wartime.
Cardona shot this in 1940, but set it during the Revolution to dodge contemporary censorship—cowardice was safer in the past.
MX
