*** This review may contain spoilers ***
*Plot and ending analyzed*
The Kidnapping
El secuestro (1974)
This is quite a peculiar movie, but for the time, the 1970s, the theme of kidnappings in movies was somewhat commonplace.
After a very cool 1970's introductory montage, complete with pleasant music and colorful blocks of the actors tinted faces, the movie starts.
A man takes his female friend, at night, to a lone spot on the mountain. He then forcibly attempts to make out with her. She refuses and then sees something in the distance. Telling the friend that a man is outside, he leaves the car to confront him.
Turns out that it is a man with a mask and he pushes the woman's friend down the hill after a scuffle, and then he aggressively takes the woman away.
He takes her to his home, which is a large wealthy home made out of volcanic rocks. It is desolate and far away from anything. It is also surrounded by a wall.
The man, played by Jorge Rivero, tells the woman that he has taken her because he "needs a woman". And he will keep her until she falls in love with him. We also learn that he is completely blind.
Jorge Rivero was a Mexican actor who appeared in a few American movies (The Last Hard Men (1976), Rio Lobo (1970), Soldier Blue (1970)). He was a weightlifter and starred in a few "El Santo" movies and plenty of low budget films like Manaos (1979), Pistoleros de la frontera (1967), Manaos (1979) and Evil Eye (1975). El Santo was a masked Mexican wrestler.
He mistreats the woman and then is kind to her in other instances. The fighting goes back and forth. She begs him to release her, but he constantly refuses. She tells him that she hates him.
We don't learn much about either of the characters. But the blind kidnapper says he lost his eyesight with a wound to the head. His father, mother and sister are also deceased.
The woman's friend is also alive in a hospital, after being found by two field workers who were walking near the abandoned car. He told the police that four men tried to take the woman. Obviously he is a braggart, but the police put out a search nonetheless.
They visit the blind man's home and find nothing out of the ordinary. They also keep sending a helicopter to the same exact spot. This is ridiculous and unbelievable, and it has a big part in the ending.
Eventually the woman has a chance to escape, but returns because she put out a tree log which tripped the blind man and she felt some compassion for him by that point.
Thus they both are in "love". Of course it seems far-fetched to the audience. But there are also some things still unresolved. There is a box, and a boarded-up guest house that the blind man does not want her to investigate.
Well, she does, and finds a woman's bundle of hair in the box. The man says it was his wife's hair and that she left him because he was blind.
When the blind man starts to go to the nearby village to get transportation for the next day, the woman breaks the lock on the boarded-up guest house door, and she finds a coffin.
Inside is a dead woman with her eyes still open. She screams and the blind man suddenly appears and she hates him for lying to her. She then runs away, with the blind man following after her.
And what should appear, the police helicopter of course? And they notice that she is the kidnapped woman running for her life. They attempt to distract the blind man, but it doesn't work and then the police officer pulls out a sniper rifle and shoots numerous times.
One shot eventually hits the blind man in the back. The kidnapped woman goes back to him, sorrowful that he is injured. And he tells her that he did not kill his wife, that she had died, and it affected him terribly. He had her embalmed and placed in the coffin. Overcome with excessive grief, he attempted suicide by shooting himself in the head, but he survived and only caused damage to his optical nerves.
The woman tells him that she in fact does believe his story, and that she also loves him. He says that is all that matters now and then he seems to die or pass out.
The movie suddenly ends, and we don't know if the blind man survived, or what happened. Most likely he did die, but was relieved to tell the woman the truth. And that was the beauty of it all.
The movie was fundamentally interesting, yet wholly average. It was also contrived and unbelievable at times. Nevertheless, the dynamic of the bizarre relationship was fascinating to see. And the melancholy ending was slightly touching.
It is worth a look. The stylish 1970's introductory montage stands out, and they also used a shorter version at the end. The end montage has three women's eyes with tears. This hints that the blind man probably did die.
In Spanish with no subtitles.
*Plot and ending analyzed*
The Kidnapping
El secuestro (1974)
This is quite a peculiar movie, but for the time, the 1970s, the theme of kidnappings in movies was somewhat commonplace.
After a very cool 1970's introductory montage, complete with pleasant music and colorful blocks of the actors tinted faces, the movie starts.
A man takes his female friend, at night, to a lone spot on the mountain. He then forcibly attempts to make out with her. She refuses and then sees something in the distance. Telling the friend that a man is outside, he leaves the car to confront him.
Turns out that it is a man with a mask and he pushes the woman's friend down the hill after a scuffle, and then he aggressively takes the woman away.
He takes her to his home, which is a large wealthy home made out of volcanic rocks. It is desolate and far away from anything. It is also surrounded by a wall.
The man, played by Jorge Rivero, tells the woman that he has taken her because he "needs a woman". And he will keep her until she falls in love with him. We also learn that he is completely blind.
Jorge Rivero was a Mexican actor who appeared in a few American movies (The Last Hard Men (1976), Rio Lobo (1970), Soldier Blue (1970)). He was a weightlifter and starred in a few "El Santo" movies and plenty of low budget films like Manaos (1979), Pistoleros de la frontera (1967), Manaos (1979) and Evil Eye (1975). El Santo was a masked Mexican wrestler.
He mistreats the woman and then is kind to her in other instances. The fighting goes back and forth. She begs him to release her, but he constantly refuses. She tells him that she hates him.
We don't learn much about either of the characters. But the blind kidnapper says he lost his eyesight with a wound to the head. His father, mother and sister are also deceased.
The woman's friend is also alive in a hospital, after being found by two field workers who were walking near the abandoned car. He told the police that four men tried to take the woman. Obviously he is a braggart, but the police put out a search nonetheless.
They visit the blind man's home and find nothing out of the ordinary. They also keep sending a helicopter to the same exact spot. This is ridiculous and unbelievable, and it has a big part in the ending.
Eventually the woman has a chance to escape, but returns because she put out a tree log which tripped the blind man and she felt some compassion for him by that point.
Thus they both are in "love". Of course it seems far-fetched to the audience. But there are also some things still unresolved. There is a box, and a boarded-up guest house that the blind man does not want her to investigate.
Well, she does, and finds a woman's bundle of hair in the box. The man says it was his wife's hair and that she left him because he was blind.
When the blind man starts to go to the nearby village to get transportation for the next day, the woman breaks the lock on the boarded-up guest house door, and she finds a coffin.
Inside is a dead woman with her eyes still open. She screams and the blind man suddenly appears and she hates him for lying to her. She then runs away, with the blind man following after her.
And what should appear, the police helicopter of course? And they notice that she is the kidnapped woman running for her life. They attempt to distract the blind man, but it doesn't work and then the police officer pulls out a sniper rifle and shoots numerous times.
One shot eventually hits the blind man in the back. The kidnapped woman goes back to him, sorrowful that he is injured. And he tells her that he did not kill his wife, that she had died, and it affected him terribly. He had her embalmed and placed in the coffin. Overcome with excessive grief, he attempted suicide by shooting himself in the head, but he survived and only caused damage to his optical nerves.
The woman tells him that she in fact does believe his story, and that she also loves him. He says that is all that matters now and then he seems to die or pass out.
The movie suddenly ends, and we don't know if the blind man survived, or what happened. Most likely he did die, but was relieved to tell the woman the truth. And that was the beauty of it all.
The movie was fundamentally interesting, yet wholly average. It was also contrived and unbelievable at times. Nevertheless, the dynamic of the bizarre relationship was fascinating to see. And the melancholy ending was slightly touching.
It is worth a look. The stylish 1970's introductory montage stands out, and they also used a shorter version at the end. The end montage has three women's eyes with tears. This hints that the blind man probably did die.
In Spanish with no subtitles.
