Leticia Neria PhD thesis - Research@StAndrews:FullText ...

elaxed or to break the tension afterwards. Alberto Isaac used this technique in Tívoli. In
one example, the artists drive around, demonstrating, and finally park in the Zócalo
expecting the president to hear their story. Tiliches claims: ‘Señor Presidente, que no se
diga que en el caso del Tívoli se venga a demostrar que los poderes se ejercen por
encima y sin tomar en cuenta al pobre y humilde individuo individual’ (Tiliches starts
crying). ‘Señor Presidente… no nos oye ni un carajo’. 210 The scene is moving, but the
sadness ends when a policeman arrives to escort them away. They realise that the truck
has broken down and everyone needs to get out and push it. The silliness of the situation
takes the viewer back to the comedy genre.
The topics in these films are diverse, some criticising the authorities and the
politicians, others describing social needs, and others criticising society itself – its abuse
and corruption. Authority figures such as politicians, police and the army are
represented negatively. The police are portrayed as negligent in Mecánica Nacional and
El Águila Descalza, and as oppressive in Calzonzin Inspector. Politicians are described
as corrupt, indifferent, oppressive, and violent, including Don Perpetuo from Calzonzin
Inspector, and El Hombre and the Mayor in Tívoli.
The appearance of the army in Calzonzin Inspector and Mecánica Nacional is
interesting since, as we know, it was rarely criticised. This may be an act of goodwill by
the Echeverría administration in order to live up to his promise that anything could be
discussed. In the previous chapter we saw that Rius was sharply critical of the army, and
perhaps these filmmakers decided they could take the risk too. Rius published his comic
in a private press with a limited number of issues every other week, and with a specific
reader in mind: the left wing middle class. On the other hand, the films of Arau and
Alcoriza were supported by the government and gained the approval of the censorship
210 Isaac, Tívoli, 1972.
235