The Politics of Mysticism and the Mexican Baroque in the Spanish Republican Exile Film: Cantar de los cantares [Song of Songs] (Manuel Altolaguirre, 1959)

Abstract

El Cantar de los Cantares, the last film directed by Manuel Altolaguirre, although practically unknown, is the closest to his aesthetic and religious interests. El Cantar recreates and reinterprets in a Mexican setting the masterpiece of mysticism adapted by Fray Luis de León. The plot represents, along mystical lines, the journey of the Bride/Church in search of her Bridegroom/God, which takes her through different Mexican natural landscapes, iconic elements of pre-Columbian architecture and sculpture and, especially, of New Spain baroque. The article analyzes the film, first, as a formal proposal on the capacities of cinematographic language applied to a classic text of mysticism. Second, it argues that the film projects a coherent vision about the role of Catholicism and, by extension, the Spanish conquest of Mexico. In other words, it argues that in El Cantar, through the tropes of mysticism and colonial baroque, a discourse on Hispanidad is articulated. The film was invited to be exhibited out of competition at the 1959 San Sebastian Film Festival. The analysis concludes by proposing that it is essential to take into account its Hispanic discourse to understand the film's reception in Francoist Spain.