¡Vámonos con Pancho Villa! is a wartime drama film about six peasants, nicknamed The Lions of San Pablo, who decide to join Pancho Villa’s Army during the Mexican Revolution. The film follows The Lions of San Pablo from their beginnings in a small suffering community to their journey in the revolution. Through various episodic battles and incidents, all but one of the 6 men die. One dies in a drunken game of Russian Roulette, one dies by the will of Pancho Villa himself, and the others die in battle. At the end of the movie, the leader of The Lions (Don Tiburcio) is ordered by Pancho Villa to burn his fellow lion, who is infected with Smallpox. Reluctantly, Don Tiburcio complies and is then ordered to leave the army.
While there are moments of glory, including when The Lions save two of their comrades from being hung by the opposition, the movie calls into question some of the actions of Pancho Villa and the members of his army. Ultimately, while the title slide suggests that blame for the brutality of the revolution cannot be placed on any single individual or side of the battle, this movie presents a pessimistic view of the revolution.
Describes the setting of a scene in a play or a film. It refers to everything placed on the stage or in front of the camera—including people. In other words, mise en scène is a catch-all for everything that contributes to the visual presentation and overall “look” of a production. When translated from French, it means “placing on stage.”
The majority of the film is set in broad daylight, which contrasts starkly with Fuentes’ sparing use of expressionist lighting characteristic of German filmmaking. Overall, in this scene and others, this expressionist lighting was used to foreshadow or indicate instances of evil.
In the selected still, Antonio R. Frausto, starring as Don Tiburcio, is the picture of exhaustion and disillusionment as he reflects upon the recent death of Miguel Ángel del Toro “Becerillo”. Don Tiburcio was the fearless leader of The Lions for the majority of the film, but he is not portrayed as that determined figure in this scene. His appearance also became increasingly disheveled as the plot reached its conclusion, which adds to the feeling that Don Tiburcio has lost the composure that he once had.
This is the art of photography and visual storytelling in a motion picture or television show. Cinematography comprises all on-screen visual elements, including lighting, framing, composition, camera motion, camera angles, film selection, lens choices, depth of field, zoom, focus, color, exposure, and filtration. Cinematography sets and supports the overall look and mood of a film’s visual narrative. Each visual element that appears on screen, a.k.a. the mise-en-scène of a film, can serve and enhance the story—so it is the cinematographer’s responsibility to ensure that every element is cohesive and support the story. Filmmakers often choose to spend the majority of their budget on high-quality cinematography to guarantee that the film will look incredible on the big screen.
In the second shot to the right (00:17:04), Pancho Villa’s men travel by train through a desert landscape. There is high-angle framing as the train speeds with smog blowing out of its chimney. These elements give a sense of urgency and power, respectively.
Throughout the film, closeups are reserved for dying characters, shown in the second-to-last still to the right (00:50:06) and powerful figures, shown in the final still to the right (00:28:34), about to inflict death upon others. In these instances, the close up shots expose the cruelty of both sides of the revolution by showing the faces of perpetrators and victims of death and destruction. Secondarily, the closeups allow the viewer to get more emotionally invested in the film through its individual characters.
Quick cutting during battle adds to the adrenaline-inducing realistic fighting by increasing the pace of the film. In addition, quick cutting is often used to quickly transition between smaller gaps in time, allowing the film to progress faster without seeming disjointed. The sliding transition is a special effect heavily used in the film. It helps bridge the gap between two sequential shots separated by a significant amount of time. It is used to bridge two shots of battle that are separated temporally and by a significant distance traveled by Pancho Villa and his men. The use of the sliding transition special effect makes the viewing experience more cohesive, blending two shots that may otherwise seem disjointed. This will be discussed further in the "editing" section of this analysis.
Editing is the process of putting a film together–the selection and arrangement of shots and scenes. Editing can condense space and time, emphasize separate elements and bring them together, and organize material in such a way that patterns of meaning become apparent. In addition, editing can determine how a film is perceived: for instance, quick, rapid cuts can create a feeling of tension, while a long take can create a more dramatic effect. The first photoplays generally had no cutting, owing to the fact that they were single-reel films; once filming began, you could not stop until the film ran out. (https://filmglossary.ccnmtl.columbia.edu/term/editing/)
Sound is an integral part in a film. It refers to everything that the audience hears including sound effects, words and music. Sound is used in films for various purposes, including: providing the information to the viewer about the location of the scene, heightening the mood, telling the audience about the characters and advancing the plot. Every person who watches a film realizes that the choice of voices, soundtrack and music present in a film affect the way that the viewer perceives a particular film. As a result, the sound is an important and integral element of the film, one that determines the way that the viewer experiences and understands a film as a visual experience.
Narrative analysis is an examination of the story elements, including narrative structure, character, and plot. A narrative can be considered to be the chain of events in a cause-effect relationship occurring in time and space. In order to analyze the narrative of a film, we need to first make the distinction between the plot of the film and the story of the film. This is sometimes referred to as the discourse and story of a film. Narrative may also be called the story thought story mainly refers to the events that describe the narrative.
Film genres are various forms or identifiable types, categories, classifications or groups of films. (Genre comes from the French word meaning "kind," "category," or "type"). These provide a convenient way for scriptwriters and film-makers to produce, cast and structure their narratives within a manageable, well-defined framework. Genres also offer the studios an easily 'marketable' product, and give audiences satisfying, expected and predictable choices. Genres refers to recurring, repeating and similar, familiar or instantly-recognizable patterns, styles, themes, syntax, templates, paradigms, motifs, rules or generic conventions.
Vámonos con Pancho Villa. Directed by Fernando de Fuentes, performances by Antonio R. Frausto and Ramón Vallarino, CLASA, 1936.