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...And God Created Them

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For the 1953 Mexican film, see God Created Them.

...And God Created Them
Directed byJacobo Morales
Written byJacobo Morales
Produced byLeslie Colombani
Blanca Silvia Eró
StarringNorma Candal
CinematographyCarmelo Rivera
Release date
  • May 1979 (1979-05)
Running time
120 minutes
CountryPuerto Rico
LanguageSpanish
Budget$200,000[1]

...And God Created Them (Template:Lang-es) is a 1979 Puerto Rican comedy film directed by Jacobo Morales. It was screened in the Un Certain Regard section at the 1981 Cannes Film Festival.[2]

Plot

The film consists of five vignettes:

  • Dios los cría – A rich industrialist has died, leaving two sons and his widow (a buxom young woman) as heirs. While his body lies on a public wake, both brothers sob and hug tenderly, afterwhich one of them sneaks out of the funeral parlor, goes to the father's office, opens the office's safe and steals the cash inside it. On his way out, he's confronted by his brother, who points a gun at him. They exchange words about their individual relationship, as well as how they related to their father and how his widow would not deserve any part of the old man's estate. They start to argue and get into a physical confrontation. One of the brothers shoots the other, but the wounded one shoots back the other in return with a gun he pulls from his coat. At the end, all three family members lie in caskets at the funeral parlor as the young widow wickedly smiles at the camera.
  • Negocio redondo – Don Marcos, the lead of a construction company (and a lecherous old man who constantly imagines women around him being naked) visits the local Roman Catholic archbishop. They are discussing the last details of a land plot's purchase. Don Marcos tries to outsmart the archbishop when they negotiate the contract's terms, but the archbishop proves to be a clever negotiator. Once they sign the contract and the deal is closed, Don Marcos returns to his office, but has second thoughts and asks his chauffeur to drive him back to the archbishop's office. He asks for a private audience to confess his sins, to which the archbishop agrees. Besides conceding on his lewd behavior, Don Marcos reveals the archbishop that the plot he has sold to the church is overvalued, since a major road will soon run through it. The archbishop threatens to sue him and his company, to which Don Marcos reminds him that this fact has been revealed to him under confession, and therefore, cannot be revealed under penalty of excommunion. The archbishop reluctantly absolves the manager of his sins, and Don Marcos returns to his office, expressionless.
  • La Gran Noche – an aging prostitute is being teased by her fellow sex workers on the bordello they all work at. By now, no client asks for her services. One night, a handsome young man shows up, rejects the offers from the other prostitutes, and takes the aging one for a dance. They leave the premises under the surprised looks of all the attendants. They stop at a park, where she is dropped by the customer (the vignette has been acted silently up to this point). The customer dismisses her rudely after she pays him, but not before pulling a knife on her over a disagreement on money matters; it turns out she had paid him to act the entire time. When she sits at a bench to ponder her future, a gallant old man plays compliment to her "beautiful eyes", provoking her a tender smile.
  • Entre doce y una – Business partners Alberto and Carlos chat in their office as Carlos uncomfortably expects Alberto to abandon the place. Suddenly, Alberto's stunningly beautiful wife, Annette, appears at the scene to the apparent surprise of both men, afterwhich they all go out to lunch together. After they get into an elevator car, a severe earthquake hits the city. The car loses power, and when they try to escape through a hatch on the top, they find the elevator's cables are frayed (and at least one has snapped). While they scream for help (and somebody offers to get them help in a matter of hours) tempers flare and the cables keep on snapping. Calmly resigned to a certain death in a matter of minutes and having some time to spend, the couple reveal each other their indiscretions. After Alberto confesses his infidelities, Annette tells him not only that she has also been unfaithful, she reveals that Carlos is her lover and that she came to the office to meet him as Alberto was not supposed to be there when she arrived. Since nothing of that seem to matter anymore, now that they are going to die soon, Alberto surprisingly forgives Annette and Carlos, hugging them in an apparent emotionally tender final moment which is abruptly broken by an external voice shouting good news: help is coming ! Suddenly Alberto turns into his older self, angrily implying he wants nothing to do with his wife nor with his business partner anymore. Both men have a fight, causing the elevator to shake as the remaining cable snaps, resulting in the elevator car plummeting with the certain death of its occupants.
  • La Otra – Fernando, a traveling salesman, appears in alternate scenes with two women. The older woman, Josefina, reminds him to take care of his health, offers him dinner, and looks after him at home; the younger one, Marie, is constantly interested in having passionate sex with him. He seems to be an absentee partner to both, and both women resent his absences. One day Marie finds Fernando with Josefina, and they have a quarrel; it turns out that Josefina, the older, domestically oriented woman, is the man's lover, while Marie is his wife. He then divorces his young wife, marries his older lover... and remains domestic to Josefina while still having frequent sexual episodes with Marie.

Cast

References

  1. ^ JANET MASLIN (19 March 1983). "Screen: Five Anecdotes About Puerto Rico". New York Times. p. 11.
  2. ^ "Festival de Cannes: ...And God Created Them". festival-cannes.com. Retrieved 6 June 2009.
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