No One Will Ever Know

It understandable that people not familiar with Mexico's history are unable to understand the context that the movie portraits. I would dare to say this is a sociopolitical movie, in which they depict a historical moment happening in Mexico. It's 1978 and the country is going through an economic boom in which everything seems to be possible. You can even observe and hear in the background the names of political figures such as Jose Lopez Portillo and Carlos Hank Ron, members of the political party PRI. Portillo's tenure was marked by heavy investments in the national oil industry after the discovery of new oil reserves, which propelled initial economic growth, but later gave way to a severe debt crisis after the international oil prices fell down. His presidency was also marked by widespread government corruption and nepotism.The sudden economic crisis that followed after a period of hope, seems to be represented by Lucía's dramatic and unexpected misfortune. The allegory that Jesus Torres Torres uses to tell us a portion of history and its profound effect on Mexico's culture is quite intelligent. "No one will ever know" refers to all the missed opportunities, of which we will never know what could have happened to a country, if only the economic crisis had never happened.

Lucía and her husband Rigoberto live in Zoquizoquipan, a small town in the Mexican state of Hidalgo. They are not at the bottom of the ladder; they own a piece of land, a horse, some heads of cattle and a modest house with some amenities. They even own a molino that they rent to neighbors (the molino is used to ground nixtamal, large white corn treated with lime, into a paste used to make tortillas). They have two children, Braulio and Teresa. Braulio is at the end of his primary school cycle in the village one-teacher school and Teresa is a few years younger. Braulio has no educational future since there is no secondary school in the village.

The time is that of populist president José López Portillo. He was elected in 1976 and there were hopes and projects for the economy, among them a strong expansion of the national oil industry. This propelled economic growth and provided job opportunities for a while, but, as oil prices fell, the boom fizzled and gave way to a severe debt crisis in the early eighties.

Lucía's sisters have moved to Mexico City where they are riding the tail end of the boom with some success. Lucía dreams of joining them, improving and completing her children's education and finding some space for herself, but Rigoberto will not hear of it, Meanwhile, Lucía feels boxed in and neglected and escapes into the black-and-white world of TV soap operas, while Braulio does the same with westerns (we see a sample of a 1970 musical western that was very popular in Mexico at the time).

Out of this simple tale, director, scriptwriter and cinematographer Jesús Torres Torres has assembled a fascinating film partly based on his own experiences (he grew up in Zoquizoquipan). Some of his actors were also raised in rural communities, which lends authenticity to their work. An important component is the Spanish spoken in this movie, colorful, musical and full of witty colloquial terms. Acting and cinematography are excellent and combine into a quality movie.

I like movies like this one. Immersion in a different culture we know nothing about, but often judge. The story in this film is universal, yet simple. Weaving TV inspired fantasy and reality is skillfully done. The acting is good.

If you are a fan of movies where all the actors constantly stare at one another or into space and say nothing, then this would be the movie for you. The production is at the level of a high school film project or maybe something for youtube. It just drags on forever and goes nowhere.

Good movie out of a low budget Simple story that allows the audience to empathize with the characters in rural mexico in the 70s A great refreshment to the same lame comedies usually done by the same people in mexican cinema e.g., omar chaparro, damian alcazsr, Martha higareda.