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CHAPTER EIGHT
EXECUTIONS BY FIRING SQUAD: HOW SHOOTINGS WERE SHOT
IN FILMS OF THE MEXICAN REVOLUTION
TILMANN ALTENBERG
Introduction Between 1910 and 1920, an estimated 1.5 million
people, that is one in every ten Mexicans of the time, lost their
lives to the revolution; revolutionary warfare had produced modern,
industrialized death for the rst time in the history of the
Americas (Meade 2008, 120).1 Although many of these war casualties
occurred outside the battlegrounds and were not the direct
consequence of physical violence, ction lms that engage with the
loss of lives during the civil war tend to highlight the more
spec-tacular ways of dying; in particular death in combat and death
by execution. This chapter establishes for the rst time a corpus of
revolution-ary ring-squad executions in ction lm and a framework
for their analysis. It argues that the disconnectedness of lmic
executions from specic historical events frees them to be used as a
plot device without strings attached. Highly ritualized and
self-contained, executions by ring squad have a range of functions
in ction lms of the Mexican Revolution: to draw the audience into
the horror of revolutionary violence, to add sus-pense and drive
forward the plot, or to make an indictment of authoritar-ianism on
a national level. Everard Meade (2005) has suggested that
Against the backdrop of mass death, technological advancement
and heroic agency, the intimate, simplied and repeated image of
executions, espe-cially as remembered and mediated by photographs,
gave them the quality of a ritual, particularly an everyday ritual
or mythology. (212)
1 See McCaa (2003) for a critical review of the principal
attempts to assess the demographic costs of the Mexican Revolution
and his own proposal to account for the missing millions.
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124
In this chapter the repeated image of executions on lm is
understood to have the quality of a ritual. In contrast to machine
gun re or artillery in combat, which bring random and anonymous
mass death, executions pre-sume individualized judgement and
reection, even if perfunctory and / or summary, or at absolute
minimum (196). The contained, if gruesome, ritual of an execution
thus connotes relative order and reason in the midst of otherwise
chaotic and boundless bloodshed. This may account for why so many
lms of the Mexican Revolution use executions by ring squad, not
only to set the scene but also as a plot device with its own
ordered script of elements.
Fiction lm turned to the Mexican Revolution from the very
beginning of the conict.2 Whereas in the United States at least
thirteen short lms relating to the revolution were released in 1911
alone (see Filmoteca UNAM 2009), in Mexico the revolution would
only begin to leave an imprint on ction lm in the 1930s, following
a decade of
wilful amnesia on the part of lmmakers working within the
institutional structures of the nascent national industry to block
out traumatic memories of the recent past. (Noble 2005, 55)
Of the 45 lms of the Mexican Revolution examined for this
chapter, spanning 1911 to 2004, 28 contain at least one
representation of an execu-tion by ring squad, with several more
referring to executions that are not actually shown on screen.
The settings chosen for the mise-en-scne of revolutionary
executions by ring squad are remarkably similar across the lms
considered here: generally the victims are placed at a short
distance in front of a plain wall which is often in a state of
decay. The relative position of the ring squad shows little
variation, although in some lms the distance to the victims is
noticeably larger than in others; this seems to correlate with the
scale of the execution. It is plausible to link these variations
primarily with aes-thetic considerations such as the wish to
achieve a shot with a balanced composition. However, the scale of
the execution is in itself a variable that may contribute
signicantly to the effect of a given execution scene. More
specically, the number of victims and soldiers forming the ring
squad, as well as the ratio between the two groups varies
considerably and merits closer examination. Overall, the spatial
arrangement and choreography of an execution are prescribed by the
ritualized nature of the event. However,
2 A lmography compiled and published by the Filmoteca (UNAM)
with a cut-off date of 2007 lists a total of 156 Mexican ction lms
relating to the revolution, with another 144 titles produced
outside Mexico.
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Executions by Firing Squad
125
the shooting of an execution sequence involves a number of
choices with regard to the cameras position, angle, distance and
movement, all of which contribute to the sequences specic
effect.
The source for execution scenes in ction is history. Since the
Mexican War of Independence and throughout the nineteenth century
executions by hanging or ring squad, often in combination, were a
frequent way of administering justice. As Claudio Lomnitz (2008)
points out,
the two forms of execution often indexed distinctions of class
or military rank, with the hanging or casual shooting (or mass ring
squad) reserved for the clases nmas and the rank and le, and the
individual execution before a ring squad generally reserved for
notables and ofcers. (385)
If by the time of the Mexican Revolution executions were already
a common occurrence, in the course of the armed phase of the
revolution, in particular with Victoriano Huertas ascent to power
in 1913, they became even more widespread and increasingly random,
blurring the lines between ofcers and common soldiers, combatants
and non-combatants, criminals and political enemies (Meade 2005,
231). Countless photo-graphs and narrative accounts, as well as
some historical lm footage, bear testimony to how generalized this
mass-mediated form of killing had become, as well as forming part
of many Mexicans experience.3 Although there is no systematic
record of executions carried out during the Mexican Revolution (see
Noble 2010, 81), their number has been estimated to be in the
thousands, orders of magnitude larger than the number of executions
carried out [] in World War I (Meade 2008, 120, note 3).
Perhaps the earliest ctional dramatization of a revolutionary
execution by ring squad is a short sequence in the silent lm The
Mexican Joan of Arc (Kenean Buel, 1911), extracts of which are
reproduced in Gregorio Rochas documentary Los rollos perdidos de
Pancho Villa (2003). Based on actual events surrounding the summary
execution of a father and his 3 The prime source of images relating
to the Mexican Revolution is, of course, the Casasola Archive with
around 600,000 negatives (see Gutirrez Ruvalcaba 1996). Among the
thousands of images reproduced in the Anales grcos de la historia
militar de Mxico 18101991, edited by the Secretara de la Defensa
Nacional, there are a good number of photographs showing executions
and their victims. See also the Historia grca de la revolucin
19001940, editada por el Archivo Casasola. In chapter four of his
amply documented doctoral dissertation, Meade (2005, 179266) gives
a detailed overview and critical discussion of the image-scape of
Revolutionary executions (179). Jorge Aguilar Mora (1990), on the
other hand, collates narrative accounts of executions by ring
squad, drawing on both literary sources and eyewitness
accounts.
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126
two sons accused of being Mexican revolutionaries in April 1911,
and the subsequent revenge of the widow,a case widely reported in
newspapers at the time4the one-reeler juxtaposes shots showing the
execution with those of the wife and mother pleading for her
relatives lives. Parallel editing here emphasize[s] the discrepancy
between audience knowledge and character knowledge (Keil, 12122),
adding suspense to the sequence. Within the lms dramatic structure,
the execution marks an early negative climax or crisis following
the initial conict, which triggers the unfolding of the main
plot.
The execution scene is composed of two clumsily choreographed
shots, each from a xed camera position at eye-level. Six federal
soldiers and the leader of the ring squad escort the three victims
to the execution site, where they are lined up side by side and
executed. To lm the ring of the shots, the camera is positioned to
the side and slightly behind the victims, capturing all ten
characters involved. This viewpoint not only heightens the dramatic
effect, as the viewer is facing the ring squad from an angle just
outside the imaginary reach of the shotguns; more importantly
perhaps, it suggests that the camera is metaphorically taking sides
with the victims and, by extension, the widow. Unlike in the
authentic footage from the 1915 execution of convicted criminals
included in the Mexican silent lm El automvil gris (Enrique Rosas,
1919), where the camera sidesboth literally and metaphoricallywith
the authority portrayed as carrying out a just sentence, utilizing
the executions performative character to
4 See, for example, Angry Woman Seeks Revenge for Death Of
Husband, The Call (San Francisco), 5 May 1911, where the widow is
referred to as Joan of Arc of Mexico. The Otautau Standard (A
Mexican Womans Revenge, July 25 1911) gives a detailed and
colourful description of the execution of the colonel responsible
for the death of her relatives:
Just as the red rim of the sun appeared over the eastern horizon
a womans voice gave a sharp command. There was the quick roll of re
from a dozen ries and a tottering gure, standing on the edge of a
newly-made grave, crumpled up, quivered and lay motionless on the
edge of the trench. One of the men of the ring squad advanced and
turned the body over with his foot, saw that ten of the bullets had
found their mark, and tumbled it into the grave. So the widow
Talamantes took revenge for the slaying of her husband and two sons
by Colonel Chiapas, of the federal army. The pursuit, the capture
and execution of Colonel Chiapas is the most dramatic incident of
the Mexican revolution.
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Executions by Firing Squad
127
reinforce the ideology that underpins it (Giraud 2013, 45),5 in
The Mexi-can Joan of Arc the perceived injustice of the execution
is instrumental in motivating the widows revenge and directing the
audiences sympathy. As early reviewer W. Stephen Bush put it:
A woman roused and determined and spurred on by the wrongs she
has suffered as a wife and mother rises at once to heroic size in
the eyes of any audience and gives the play a power and dignity,
which it would otherwise not possess. (1911, 19)
In 1911, Bush seems eager to downplay the political dimension of
the widows revenge when he decrees that the insurgency means
nothing to her. In fact, he praises the lm for decoupling the
human-interest story from its political context, thereby reducing
the revolutionary uprising to a contingent circumstance:
The widow Talamantes cared nothing about the insurrection in
itself, she uses the insurrection as a means to an end and thereby
lifts the whole story into a higher plane of dramatic force and
interest. What must otherwise have been a common tale of war and
politics now becomes a tragedy in the truest sense of that word.
(1911, 19)
The widows return home after successfully avenging her husband
and sons deaths provides the nal clue to the plots depoliticized
design. Although news-reports at the time suggest that the
historical Talamantes family was of a rather afuent background,6 if
we follow Bush, the lm shows the widow to be of humble origin, A
plain woman of the people, content to be nothing more than a
faithful wife and loving mother (19), making her rise to heroism
appear even more spectacular. Perhaps more importantly, however,
the supposedly modest milieu further contributes to building up the
character of the widow who suffers and responds instinc-tively as a
wife and mother, ruling out any political agenda as a motive
5 If we follow Sofa Gonzlez de Len and Daniel Gonzlez Dueas, the
lms enormous success at the time was largely due to the
authenticity of the 50-second execution sequence; the cinema
audience was less interested in understanding the historical events
than in ver morir en vivo [], con sus propios ojos the culprits
responsible for the crimes of the banda del automvil gris: a morbid
attraction similar to that emanating from public executions in the
Middle Ages (2008, 485). See De los Reyes (1996, 23661) for a
detailed discussion of the lm in relation to the historical events
and its context of production. 6 See, for example, the details
given in the Morning Oregonian (Portland), 15 April 1911 (Avenging
Widow Leads Army).
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128
for her taking to arms. In Bushs view, the widows purely
personal motives elevate her above Joan of Arc, because to him,
As a motive for action, patriotism, however laudable, cannot for
a moment compare with the far deeper and more primitive and
elemental emotion of wifes and mothers love. (19) This
depoliticization of the widows revenge and, by implication, of
the preceding execution of her husband and sons, betrays a
certain concept of entertainment, which exploits the thrill of
authenticity but is reluctant to engage with any political
implications of the human drama. But it also chimes in with a
widespread perceptionor rather, wishful thinking, as it would turn
out at the time, that the conict in Mexico was only a storm in a
teacup which would soon abate. In fact, by the time the lm was
pub-licly released on 31 July 1911, Dazs recent departure into
exile in May seemed to have cleared the way for peaceful political
change. In his review, published roughly two weeks before the lms
release, Bush even credits the widow Talamantes with contributing
not a little to the success of the insurrection and the
dethronement and the thinly disguised ight of the tyrant Daz (19).
Although clearly a misjudgement of the events lead-ing to Dazs
abdication, it is not surprising that, at the time, the widows
personal revenge and the dictators fall should have been seen as
directly related. While the widows motivation is cast as strictly
personal, in the context the lm was rst shown, her revenge
inevitably acquired some political dimension, as does the execution
by ring squad. The key func-tion of what must have appeared as
shockingly realistic pictures of killing is to provoke a strong
emotional response in viewers, leading them to identify with the
widows plight. But what was conceived as an individual injustice
ends up representing the arbitrariness and cruelty of a corrupt
regime.
By their very nature, executions are the ultimate demonstration
of power over human life, be it institutionally sanctioned or not.
Unlike in battle, where victory and defeat are contested in the
very course of the action, the outcome of an execution is presumed
inevitable from the start, as the victim has no opportunity to
change the course of events. Death brought about by ring squad is
particularly sudden and, from an observers point of view, visually
striking. The vast majority of sequences showing revolutionary
executions by ring squad cast them as spectacles performed before
an audience of non-participant observers. The lm audi-ence is
therefore observing an observed spectacle; our own gaze is once
removed from that of the diegetic audience, twice from the
spectacle that seems to unfold before our eyes. Put another way,
the lm director stages
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Executions by Firing Squad
129
the execution which itself is already a staged event, with an
audience gath-ered to observe the spectacle performed: the
play-within-a-play analogy springs to mind. Furthermore, unlike in
painting and photography, in lm even the shortest execution scene
somehow bridges the moment before and after the shots are red, if
nothing else. In several examples from the corpus such a
minimalistic representation of an execution is lmed as a
point-of-view shot, followed by a reaction shot. Showing the
onlookers horried reaction following the ring of the shots and
death of the victim contributes signicantly to channelling the lm
audiences identication and empathy. By showing a characters
emotional response to a disturbing scene, such reaction shots
invite the audience to stay emotionally con-nected with the
diegetic world, highlighting at the same time the medi-ated
dimension of the imagery of violence (Pick 2010, 17).
It is not uncommon, however, for lms not to use reaction shots
at all or to show onlookers noticeably unfazed. Often the latter
appear in combi-nation with reaction shots of other observers
showing a strong emotional response. The key to understanding this
seeming incongruity is to consider the social strata of the people
concerned, as well as their role in the story. Whereas peons and
other members of the lower classes who tend to constitute the
anonymous masses behind a lms plot are generally shown to preserve
a stoic attitude, middle- and upper-class civilians, marked by
their manners and attire, often display reactions of shock and
horror; chiming in with traditional gender stereotypes, the latter
applies in particular to female characters, as in Flor silvestre
(Emilio Fernndez, 1943), Old Gringo (Luis Puenzo, 1989) and Zapata:
el sueo del hroe (Alfonso Arau, 2004). A third type of reaction
shot focuses on individuals who seem to derive personal
satisfaction or even pleasure from observing an execution, as is
the case, for example, in Viva Villa (Jack Conway, 1934), Caballo
Prieto Azabache (Ren Cardona, 1968), Tepepa (Giulio Petroni, 1969)
and Vamos a matar, compaeros (Sergio Corbucci, 1970). These
characters are villains, often high-ranking ofcials in the federal
army who may have ordered the execution, sometimes powerful
caciques who support the government troops, less frequently corrupt
or brutalized revolutionaries.
The attitude of the condemned about to be shot is also drawn to
the audiences attention in some ction lms. Where the execution is
used as a device to set the scene or create dramatic tension, no
particular attention is given to the victims state before the shots
are red. In more individualized execution scenes, however,
especially in lms produced outside Mexico, we see the convicts fear
and despair when facing the ring squad. In Mexican lms, on the
other hand, the convicts often stand out for their
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unfaltering stoicism that tends to earn themat least
implicitlythe respect of the opposing party and, by extension, of
the implied lm audi-ence.
Executions and the Plot In its conventional format, the
assumption is that an execution will lead to the death of the
condemned. Some lms build on this expectation, having one of the
main characters die in front of a ring squad to drive the plot
forward or bring it to an end. This is the case, for example, in
Flor silves-tre (Emilio Fernndez, 1943), Vino el remolino y nos
alevant (Juan Bustillo Oro, 1950) and El prisionero 13 (Fernando de
Fuentes, 1933), where the execution sequence has a major bearing on
the plot. However, as the following analyses will show, the specic
function and effect of the ring-squad execution varies signicantly
between these lms.
In Flor silvestre (Emilio Fernndez, 1943) the protagonists death
at the end of the lm wraps up the melodramatic emplotment so often
found in lms of the so-called Golden Age of Mexican cinema (c.
193555) (see Mistron 1984). Lead character Jos Luis, the only heir
of a rich estate turned revolutionary of unfaltering principles, is
executed by false revolu-tionaries who have kidnapped his wife
Esperanza and new-born son. Jos Luiss resignation in the face of
certain death suggests that he embraces his execution as a
worthwhile sacrice, as it allows Esperanza and their son to emerge
from a situation of extreme danger to a better future, which is
aligned with the future of Mexico.
In the execution scene the viewers emotions are deected from the
complexities of the underlying social conict and channelled into an
easy sentimental identication with Esperanza. The drawn-out and
exquisitely painful (Mraz 1999, 154) execution sequence of about
three minutes duration, echoes of which can be found in the
similarly melodramatic outcome in Fernndezs later lm Un da de vida
(1950), has a slow build-up until the moment the ring squad is
given the orders, while the camera focuses on Esperanza watching
events take their course. In this 20-second shot, as we hear the
ring of the volley killing Jos Luis, Esperanzas facial expression
changes from fearful anticipation to horror. Rather than showing
Jos Luiss death, the lm deects the audiences attention towards
Esperanzas reaction. Her xed gaze, which seems to absorb the
traumatizing experience of witnessing her husband being shot, ends
up neutralizing the spectacles disturbing nature for viewers. By
withholding the images of the execution sequences key moment and
providing a
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Executions by Firing Squad
131
model response, the lm exonerates the audience from having to
engage directly with the visual impact of the executions climax.
Jos Luiss nal words, spoken to Esperanza in a low voice just before
the shots are red, invite an allegorical reading of her role for
Mexicos future: Esperanza, hijo mo. Beyond being a nal and denitive
declaration of love, these words, uttered with extreme tranquility,
attain the quality of a prophecy: hope (Esperanza) lies in the next
generation (hijo mo) that is the product of the union of two
different social classes and a symbol of the new Mexican society
(Mistron 1984, 52). The main plot is framed by Esperanza telling
her young adult son, who is wearing the uniform of a Mexican cadet,
the life-story of his father. The point driven home is that the
ultimate sacrice, that of Jos Luiss life, was not in vain, as
Mexico has emerged from the turmoil of the revolution a new nation.
At the clos-ing of the narrative frame following Jos Luiss
execution, Esperanza spells this out in unambiguous terms:
La sangre derramada en tantos aos de lucha por miles de hombres
que, como tu padre, creyeron en el bien y en la justicia no fue
estril. Sobre ella se levanta el Mxico de hoy en que palpita una
nueva vida. The lm plays down the scale and death toll of the
Mexican Revolution
and suggests that the revolution effectively harmonized social
conict, bridging the divide between rich and poor. This ction
delivers the politi-cal agenda of total harmony between classes, as
decreed at the time by former president Lzaro Crdenas and others
(see Franco 2010, 365). As OMalley points out, such use of the
revolution as a symbol to unify the nation contradicted one of the
most obvious characteristics of the revolu-tionits disunity (126).
In the lm, Jos Luiss death is instrumental in delivering that
message insofar as it provides the simple and denitive solution to
a seemingly irresolvable conict; that between the loyalty owed to
his (rich) family, the love for (poor) Esperanza and the call of
the just cause of the revolution. Although Jos Luiss decision to
side with the revolution and marry Esperanza seems to be in sync
with the course his-tory is taking, the lm does not allow him this
triumph. In a radical gesture, Flor silvestre links change to the
new generation, bypassing the slow and complex process of
negotiating social change in post-revolution-ary Mexico, which many
claim has never come to fruition: a biological solution triumphs
over a social one.
The fact that Jos Luis dies an innocent man elevates his sacrice
from what at the time might have seemed petty considerations of
transgression,
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guilt and punishment.7 The low camera angle from which these nal
images of the victim moments before his death are taken underscores
this aggrandizement visually. More generally, the photography of
the execu-tion sequence highlights the clear lines and symmetrical
arrangement of the mise-en-scne, with a preference for high-angle
long shots capturing the victim, the ring squad, additional
soldiers lined up and the crowd of bystanders (Fig. 8-1). At
different points the camera frames the ring squad and false
revolutionaries from a low angle, emphasizing their posi-tion of
power over Jos Luiss life (Fig. 8-2). Although an aestheticizing
approach to lming executions by ring squad is not uncommon in lms
of the Mexican Revolution, the visually stunning, crisp black and
white photography by Gabriel Figueroa in Flor silvestre takes this
to extreme lengths. 8 In his Memorias, cinematographer Figueroa
names Mexican illustrator and caricaturist Jos Guadalupe Posada as
the chief inspiration for the ring squad sequence in Flor silvestre
(Flores Villela 2010, 80; see also Ramrez Berg 1994, 15). Posadas
graphic work contains several engravings showing hangings and
ring-squad executions, which were widely disseminated in the early
twentieth century (see, for example, Fig. 8-3 and 8-4).9 Following
this lead, it would seem that Posadas work is at the root of a
Mexican iconographic tradition of lming executions by ring squad,
which is established in lms of the Golden Age of Mexican
cinema.
For the understanding of the revolutionary process as projected
by the lm, it is signicant that Jos Luis is not executed by
revolutionaries ght-ing against a corrupt dictatorship and for a
more equitable society, like those supporting Madero during the
initial phase of the revolution, but by false revolutionaries who
are shown to have abandoned the ideals of the revolutionary
struggle, if indeed they ever were more than mere bandits. Far from
casting the true revolution in a bad light, Jos Luiss execution
therefore reinforces the suggested continuity between the Maderista
move-
7 Podalsky detects a contrast between the lms frame and the
accumulated effect of the narrative (1993, 63). This interpretation
is, in part, based on the erroneous assumption that Jos Luis killed
his fathers murderer. 8 See Ramrez Berg (1994) for a detailed
analysis of the visual style of Fernndez-Figueroa lms and some
suggestions regarding its ideological implications. For an overview
of the most salient features of Fernndez-Figueroa lms, see also
chapter eleven of this volume. 9 As Meade points out, unlike in
Posadas execution broadsheets of the Porrian era, his treatments of
Revolutionary executions [] identify the condemned almost
exclusively by type rather than by name, and contain many fewer
markers of individuality, and many more signs of group identity
(2008, 130).
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Executions by Firing Squad
133
ment and post-revolutionary Mexico. Equally important is the lms
exclusive focus on the initial phase of the revolution, prior to
the conicts escalation into full-blown civil war following Maderos
assassination. By refusing to even acknowledge, let alone engage
with, the most divisive and devastating period of revolutionary
upheaval, the lm not only trivializes the disruption caused by the
civil war but also grossly reduces the strug-gles complexity to a
seemingly clean-cut clash of interests between hacendados and
peasants. In this respect, Flor silvestres simplication of
historical complexity surpasses that of other lms made in the same
period, which, in the words of John Mraz, were
set in either the absolutely unproblematic period of 19131914,
when the Revolutionary forces were united against the evil
usurpation of Victoriano Huerta, or in an abstracted, ahistorical
situation, where the exact alle-giances of the protagonists remain
unclear. (1999, 149) In view of the lms insistence upon branding
the false revolutionaries
as ruthless bandits, it is surprising, if not inconsistent, that
these should stage an orderly public execution by ring squad to
have Jos Luis killed, rather than murdering him cold-bloodedly.
Although it could be argued that from the lmmakers perspective the
clear and scalable structure of an execution provides the ideal
occasion for the protagonists nal sacrice, on a deeper level the
inconsistency remains. However hard the lm attempts to suppress the
imagery of violence and suffering, the nal sequence draws on what,
in the Mexican context, is arguably the most emblematic situation
of revolutionary killing, the highly ritualized execu-tion by ring
squad. Meade sees Mexican revolutionary executions as symbolic loci
for the everyday savagery [] of Revolutionary violence, rather than
its epic, modern, or even tragic qualities, which would loom large
in the collective memory of the Revolution (2008, 123). He further
argues that
Because similar kinds of executions continued long after the
military victory of the nominally Revolutionary regime, images of
Revolutionary executions undermined its triumphal chronology and
called into question other pretenses to the creation of a new
order. (123)
Although Meades primary focus is on photographic records of
real-life executions, the subversive potential of visual
representations of revolution-ary executions applies equally, if
not more, to ctional dramatizations in early lms of the Mexican
Revolution. Thus Jos Luiss execution by ring squad at the same time
facilitates and undermines the lms harmo-
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134
nizing and reductive vision of the revolutionary process and the
corresponding citizen- and nation-building agenda (Pick 2010, 126).
To dismiss the revolution in Flor silvestre as narrative backdrop,
as does Zuzana M. Pick (2010, 126) amongst others, is therefore to
ignore that the lm is haunted by the spectres of what its plot and
visual aesthetics attempt to disown most: the disturbing notion
that lethal violence against defenseless individuals (Meade 2008,
123) on the part of all factions is the revolutions hallmark and
its poisonous legacy.
In Vino el remolino y nos alevant (Juan Bustillo Oro, 1950) the
death by ring squad of one of the lead characters is the tragic
consequence of an irresolvable conict between the obedience owed to
his superiors and the ties of blood that command him to spare his
brothers life. Unlike Jos Luiss death in Flor silvestre, however,
Estebans decision to give his life for that of his brother
Alejandro, despite being played out as a heroic gesture, does not
transcend the private sphere, as Alejandro later ends up dying a
pointless death. In fact, none of the family members is part of the
new Mexico that has allegedly emerged from the revolution.
Ideologically, this lm can be considered as the urban counterpart
to Flor silvestre. It explores the devastation caused by the
revolution through the story of a middle-class family from Mexico
City that is torn apart by the revolution. The intended overall
message of Vino el remolino is spelt out in a brief framing
sequence, which shows a military parade in front of the Monu-ment
to the Revolution in Mexico City. After the opening credits, an
uni-dentied male voice in off, that makes the implausible claim to
be speak-ing on the day of the monuments inauguration,10 praises
the sacrices made in the revolution to bring about a new, better
Mexico: Mxico [] rinde homenaje a quienes se sacricaron por dar un
sentido nuevo, ms humano y generoso a su historia. This
introduction invites the audience to view the lm as a homage to
those who sacriced their lives in the revolu-tion, just as the
Monument to the Revolution honours their memory.
Similarly to the set-up in Flor silvestre, in Vino el remolino
the initial conict between Porristas and Maderistas is mapped onto
the generation gap between the patriarch Patricio Ramrez and his
children. After the fall of Huerta, two of the brothers end up on
different sides. When Villista lieutenant Alejandro falls prisoner
to Constitutionalist lieutenant Esteban, the latter allows his
brother to escape to save him from certain death. As a consequence,
Esteban is himself sentenced to be executed by ring squad. 10 The
voice refers to the monument as esta obra de piedra que hoy se
inaugura. In reality, the monument was nished in 1938 but not
ofcially inaugurated at the time. I have been unable to ascertain
which, if any, of the yearly commemorative events the footage of
the military parade corresponds to (see Ruiz Ham n.d.).
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The execution sequence, whose mise-en-scne and photography are
again reminiscent of Posadas representations, is framed by two
musicians performing on-screen the title song Vino el remolino y
nos alevant, which provides the cue for Estebans reections on the
violent frictions caused by the revolutionary struggle. As a
traitor, Esteban is shot in the back, a rare variation from the
predominant model of ring-squad execu-tions in lms of the Mexican
Revolution (Fig. 8-5), also seen in Emiliano Zapata (Felipe Cazals,
1970). Ironically, as Alejandro returns triumphantly to Mexico City
we learn that he has now joined the Constitutionalist army and the
story ends with his death.
While in Flor silvestre hope arises from Jos Luiss ultimate
sacrice, no hope issues from the execution in Vino el remolino. As
revolutionary soldiers both dead brothers may be seen as having
contributed to bringing about the new order. The idea of personal
sacrice for a better Mexico, however, which the narrative frame
evokes so eagerly, does not follow from the familys suffering and
painof which the execution is the key example. Ultimately this lms
frame reects the political agenda of the state-sponsored lm
industry, which was striving to consolidate the nation-building
project drawing on revolutionary rhetoric, whilst the story that
unfolds from the execution contradicts that interpretation of the
revolution (see Mistron 1984, 54).
El prisionero 13 (1933), the rst lm of Fernando de Fuentess
Revolution Trilogy and one of the earliest Mexican feature lms
focussing on the revolution, is remarkable in a number of ways.
Produced at a time when the Hollywood-inspired studio and star
system and the political rhetoric of the 1940s had not yet imposed
their imprint, the lm engages critically with an early phase of the
revolution in Mexico City (see Mraz 2009, 92). Unlike in Flor
silvestre, where the ring-squad execution of the protagonist is
ultimately at odds with both the plot and the lms overall agenda,
in El prisionero 13 the execution sequence emerges from the central
conict and is convincingly motivated by the characters and events.
Set in Mexico City in 1914, during the short-lived presidency of
Huerta,11 the lm entwines the private with the political, playing
out an inexorable destiny reminiscent of classical tragedies (de la
Vega Alfaro 1995, 83). Following the arrest of thirteen rebels
involved in a conspiracy against Huerta, colonel Julin Carrasco is
ordered to have them executed at dawn. Although the list of the
condemned has been nalized, the colonel releases 11 To pinpoint the
historical setting and mark political afliations, de Fuentes places
a portrait of Huerta on the wall of the protagonists ofce. In El
compadre Mendoza (1934), the second lm of the Revolution Trilogy,
this same device is used repeatedly with comic effect.
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one of the prisoners in return for a bribe, replacing him with a
randomly arrested young man of similar appearance. At this point
the second plot line comes to the fore. The innocent thirteenth
prisoner happens to be Carrascos lost son Juan, whom he has not
seen since his wife Marta left with their son many years ago, to
escape from Carrascos drunkenness and violence. When Marta learns
of her sons arrest she rushes to Carrasco. The colonel realizes
that he has sent his own son to be killed and attempts to stop the
execution. At the moment of maximum suspense, as the order to re is
about to be given, the lm pulls out of the execution scene, showing
Carrasco as he awakens from an alcohol-induced nightmare. Shattered
by the vision that he might have killed his own son, he vows to
stop drinking. The banal moralistic ending plays down the
scandalous corruption and inexorable efciency of the federal army
exposed in the lm, dismissing them as the product of Carrascos
imagination. Apparently the framing of the lms main plot as a
dreamwhich is both ethically and aesthetically unconvincingwas
imposed by censors at the time, who considered the lm in its
original version, where Juan arrives too late to save his sons life
(Tun 2010, 218), to be denigrante para el ejrcito (Luz Alba quoted
in Garca Riera 1993, 80).
The execution of the prisoners is rst referred to as a
possibility about 20 minutes into the lm and sustains the story arc
throughout a dialogue-laden and rather static further 45 minutes.
For maximum dramatic effect, the actual execution sequence has a
slow build-up. The parading of the twelve prisoners to the
execution siteone has committed suicide in the detention celltakes
up the rst ve minutes of the seven-minute sequence. To further
increase the suspense, the prisoners are executed in three groups
of four; Juan is part of the last group. When the rst volley
resounds, the lm cuts briey to Juans mother, who is still waiting
to see Carrasco; the ring of the second round of shots interrupts
their conversa-tion and the nal salvo is neither seen nor heard, as
Carrasco wakes up at the dreams climax. Whereas the twelve
conspirators have put themselves on the line in support of the
revolution, Juanprisoner number thirteenis the unlucky one who dies
innocent, by his own fathers hand.
In this lm, the cry Viva la revolucin! a split second before the
rst round of shots is red conrms the victims unfaltering dedication
to the revolutionary cause. 12 This demonstrative stance contrasts
with the 12 Garca Riera, who considers the execution sequence to
stand out against the rest of the lm (1993, 80), considers this
battle cry to be el nico detalle poltico [] de la pelcula (8081),
missing the wider political implications of the sequence. His
proposed link with the execution footage included in El automvil
gris is tenuous at best (80).
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remorse expressed in the suicide note found on their dead
comrade-in-arms, which reads: Comprendo que he cometido un error Yo
mismo me he castigado. The difference between these attitudes in
the face of death is indicative of de Fuentess effort to expose the
diversity within the group of urban conspirators rather than make
them appear as incarnations of some stereotypical idea of the
revolutionary. Although all prisoners are male, they differ
noticeably with regard to age, build, posture, diction and dress
(see Mraz 2009, 94); their brief verbal exchanges before and during
the execution sequence further reveal differences in socio-economic
back-ground and attitude. This focus on the victims individuality
is all the more remarkable as none of the revolutionaries is seen
or referred to outside the prison cell and the execution grounds.
The photography supports this focus on the victims. Several times
the camera travels slowly along the lined-up prisoners exposing
their contrasting physical appearance; or the prisoners walk past
the camera. Of the three consecutive executions only the rst one is
shown in full. We witness how the rst four prisoners are separated
from the group of twelve, escorted to the neighbouring execution
grounds, lined up and shot. Following a number of long shots, once
the victims and the ring squad are in position (Fig. 8-6),13 the
scene appears to be frozen for around 15 seconds. In this moment of
maximum tension, captured in so many illustrations of executions by
ring squad, the camera travels one last time past the prisoners
(Fig. 8-7); a reverse travelling shot of the same length moves
along the soldiers in ring position, looking directly into the gun
barrels (Fig. 8-8), before we are briey shown the ring squad from
the side, the guns pointing to the left as the ring order is given
(Fig. 8-9). There is a contrast between the individuality of the
four prisoners, who display different degrees of equanimity in the
face of imminent death, and the threatening uniformity of the
soldiers who outnumber the victims multiple times and whose
squinting faces are barely visible behind the military caps and
glistening gun barrels. This contrast underlines the power divide
that separates the autocratic statereduced to its willing
executionersfrom the citizens that have fallen out of favour,
represented here by the urban revolutionaries conspiring against
the Huerta regime.
Firing-squad executions often make political comments. The
drawn-out execution sequence at the end of El prisionero 13 serves
to intertwine the plots political strand with its private
counterpart, raising the suspense to a maximum. As an essential
component of the plot it also drives home the
13 It is possible that de Fuentes based this and subsequent
shots on visual cues found in Posadas work, just as
FernndezFigueroa would ten years later (see Fig. 8-3 and 8-4).
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lms denunciation of the Huerta dictatorship and the blind
military authoritarianism (Garca 1995, 159) more generally. The
mise-en-scne and camerawork demonstrate visually the
irreconcilability of the opposing sides in the revolutionary
struggle. Although undoubtedly informed by visual records of
military executions, the ring-squad sequence in El prisionero 13
stands alone in its cinematic boldness and intensity. Here as more
generally in his Revolution Trilogy, de Fuentes masterfully
exploited the lack of stereotypes and the dramatic conventions of
newly emerging sound lm in order to develop stories with a moral
lesson (Dvalos Orozco 2005, 26). Unlike most execution sequences in
later lms of the Mexican Revolution, de Fuentes steers clear of the
sensationalist details of revolutionary executions such as the
impact of the bullets; nor does he allow for civilian bystanders
and the corresponding reaction shots. His primary concern in this
sequence is to highlight the revolutionaries individuality and
humanity in life, rather than their equality in death. In so doing,
he has created one of the most memorable execution sequences of any
lm of the Mexican Revolution. Although certain elements of the
mise-en-scne and camerawork may have inspired later lmmakers, the
sequences length, focus on the victims and urban setting, with
hundreds of soldiers standing to attention as the prisoners are
escorted to the execu-tion site, remain exceptional.
In Mexican lm history, the ten years that separate El prisionero
13 from Flor silvestre mark a decisive shift from de Fuentess
critical cine-matic exploration of a largely uncharted topic in a
relatively tolerant era (Mraz 2009, 92), to Emilio Fernndezs
simplistic rural vision of the revolutionary process as part of the
government-sponsored project of post-revolutionary nation building.
At the same time, the executions in these lms share so many common
elements that they might be said to follow a script.
The Execution Script From a story-telling point of view, lmic
representations of ring squad executions differ from battle scenes
in that they can be mapped onto a series of discrete but closely
linked routines. I refer to the complete sequence of these routines
as the execution script. Unlike an execution protocol, which I take
to refer to the historically variable real-world conventions
governing a certain type of execution, the execution script I am
proposing here has been distilled from lmic execution scenes that
may or may not coincide with any real-world execution protocol; it
is the
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139
abstract, maximal version of a varied representational practice.
The full script of an orderly execution by ring squad in ction lm
consists of the following routines:14 1. the victim is taken to the
execution grounds 2. the victim digs his grave15 3. (if more than
one convict:) the victims say good-bye to each other 4. the victim
is granted a last wish 5. the victim is brought into position 6.
the victim is blindfolded 7. the ring squad takes position 8. the
ring squad leader gives orders (Preparen!Apunten!Fuego!) 9. the
victim shouts rallying cry / political slogan 10. the ring squad
res the shots 11. the bullets hit the victim 12. the coup de grce
is red 13. the victims corpse is removed from the execution site or
buried It is unlikely that any lmic representation of an execution
by ring squad would include all the routines of this script. In
fact, a closer look at 28 lms from different eras and different
countries containing some 60 revolutionary executions by ring squad
reveals that lms evoke the script rather than showing the complete
sequence of its routines. This corre-sponds in the rst instance to
the economy of story-telling, where certain routines are implied
rather than represented, because their depiction is unnecessary and
may even obstruct the ow of the narration. Apart from those
routines dropped from the representation, some of the script
routines may not be part of the imagined script behind a given
execution in the rst place: this applies in particular to 2., 3.,
4., 6., 9. and 12. On the other hand, 10. is the scripts core
routine, which cannot be omitted from the execution script without
jeopardizing its specic nature. In fact, in order for an execution
by ring squad to be recognized as such, it is sufcient to represent
the situation typically recorded by about-to-die photographsto
borrow Barbie Zelizers (2010) termand history paintings alike: the
execution scene with the ring squad and the victim in position at
the very
14 Although formulated in singular, with the exception of 3.,
all routines of the script apply potentially to executions of
individuals, groups of people and mass executions alike. 15 In the
lms considered, none of the victims is female; hence the use of the
male form.
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moment the shots are red. In some cases, the elements are
further reduced to showing just the victim or the ring squad.
Setting the scene Frequently, lms of the Mexican Revolution
incorporate execution sequences as a shorthand way of evoking a
general atmosphere of brutality where an individuals life is of
little value. While these executions have little or no bearing on
the plot, they often also contribute to characterizing the
observers by showing their reaction or apparent lack of reaction.
In Old Gringo (Luis Puenzo, 1989), based on the novel of the same
title by Carlos Fuentes, the female lead character Harriet Winslow,
a naive woman hun-gry for life, has just arrived in revolutionary
Mexico from the United States. She nds herself trapped on a rich
mans hacienda where she witnesses from afar the execution of
several revolutionaries. Harriets strong emotional reaction
highlights her sensitivity and, by implication, the idyllic,
protected life she enjoyed in the United States (Fig. 8-10). In the
Spaghetti Western El hombre de Ro Malo (Eugenio Martn, 1971), on
the other hand, most of the characters witnessing an execution by
ring squad from a passing wagon are themselves hard-boiled bandits
who have been taken prisoner by the revolutionaries. Accordingly,
they seem rather unim-pressed by the ring squad. The playful music
adds to the suggested light-ness of the scene in this Western
comedy. The execution script is reduced to a brief point-of-view
shot from the bandits moving position on the wagon, just as the
volley is being red (Fig. 8-11), followed by a reaction shot (Fig.
8-12) and a high-angle establishing shot providing the wider
context (Fig. 8-13). In Enamorada (Emilio Fernndez, 1947) and its
US-American remake The Torch (Emilio Fernndez, 1950), a group of
inu-ential townspeople, including the priest, are escorted to be
questioned by a revolutionary general whose troops have taken the
town. As they cross a square an ofcer, presumably of the federal
army, is being executed. In both the original and the remake the
ring of the shots is visually separated from the impact of the
bullets. First we are shown the commanding ofcer and the lined-up
ring squad taking aim (Fig. 8-14). Immediately after the crash of
the volley a swish pan to the left catches the executed ofcer as he
is falling to the ground. The rapid camera movement mimics the
velocity and violence of the bullets in a moment of vertigo for the
viewer.16
16 This same technique is also used in As era Pancho Villa
(Ismael Rodrguez, 1957) and Juana Gallo (Miguel Zacaras, 1960).
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141
Another swish pan to the left links these core routines of the
execution script to the priests observation, because we see him
turning towards the spectacle from a position that coincides
approximately with that of the camera showing the ring squad and
the victim; the agitated music underlines his inner turmoil. Here,
as in El hombre de Ro Malo, the execution signals the fate that may
await the townspeople. In all three examples the viewer is not
informed about the victims identities nor does their death concern
any of the characters personally. In addition to setting the scene,
such execution sequences add to the dramatic tension and contribute
to characterizing the observing charactersHarriet Winslow, the
bandits, the priestby showing their reaction or apparent lack of
reaction.17
Reduction to the Scripts Core Routine If these representations
of an execution by ring squad seem minimalistic, some lms go even
further in reducing the execution script to the very core routine
of the shots being red. In Un dorado de Pancho Villa (Emilio
Fernndez, 1967), 30 minutes into the lm, a long shot shows a
lined-up ring squad. However, unlike in Enamorada / The Torch,
where a swish pan follows the direction of the bullets, moving from
the soldiers to the victim, here the execution script is edited
such that moments before the shots are red a hard cut takes us from
the execution scene to what looks like the interior of a badly
damaged church. The crash of the volley reso-nates in the nearby
building, interrupting a conversation between the local cacique and
the military commander about the future of the lead character, a
dorado who has returned to the village in the wake of Francisco
Pancho Villas retirement as a revolutionary in 1920. In the
immediate context of this sequence the execution could appear as a
demonstration of the rigorous, egalitarian justice administered by
the new order, represented here by the seemingly incorruptible
military commander. The victims are not shown and one could even
call the mise-en-scne of the perfectly lined up ring squad
aesthetically pleasing (Fig. 8-15). However, as the narration
progresses, this initial reading is gradually undermined by the
17 Further examples of ring-squad executions that are primarily
scene setting can be found in El Siete Leguas o el caballo de
Pancho Villa (Ral de Anda, 1955), the episode El ahorcado of Cuando
Viva Villa! es la muerte (Ismael Rodrguez, 1960), Juana Gallo
(Miguel Zacaras, 1960), Emiliano Zapata (Felipe Cazals, 1970) and
La Generala (Juan Ibez, 1970).
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commanders emerging personal agenda, which turns him into the
dorados deadly enemy. With that in mind, the execution scene now
anticipates the fate that is awaiting the protagonist rather than
celebrating the post-revolutionary order. The unusual suppression
of one of the execu-tion scripts core routinesthe impact of the
bullets and subsequent death of the victimcan even be read as a
carefully placed void that is only lled by the dorados
assassination in the lms nal sequence.
This execution sequence in Fernndezs rst colour lm differs from
the previously discussed examples by the same directorFlor
silvestre, Enamorada and The Torchin that it omits the victim or
victims. It is also the only one of his execution sequences here
considered in which the ring squad is aiming from left to right.
Further, whereas in the earlier examples the ring squad consists of
ve soldiers who are shooting at a single victim, here ten soldiers
are aiming at an unknown number of victims. Finally, Un dorado de
Pancho Villa is the only of the Fernndez lms discussed in which the
executioners are regular soldiers of the federal army and not
revolutionaries. Together these differences point towards a shift
in Fernndezs view of the Mexican Revolution and its legacy. It is
possible that a re-assessment of the revolution is connected with
Fernn-dezs professional marginalization and corresponding
disenchantment in the years following the Golden Age of Mexican
cinema (see Tierney 2007, 16071). The early, more complete and
realistic execution sequences link ring-squad executions to the
violent years of revolutionary bloodshed, from which a new Mexico
has supposedly emerged. In Un dorado, on the other hand, the
execution draws attention to the continuing injustice and violence,
undermining the idea of a radically different post-revolutionary
order. As a consequence of its abstract minimalism and complete
isolation from the plot, the execution scene both foreshadows the
protagonists fate and turns into a symbol of early
post-revolutionary Mexicos violent authoritarianism.
Thwarted Executions
In ction lm, the general expectation that execution invariably
leads to death is sometimes undermined by setting up an execution
that is then thwarted. Preventing a ring-squad execution from being
carried out by calling it off occurs, for example, in Viva Villa
(Jack Conway, 1934), La muerte de Pancho Villa (Mario Hernndez,
1974) and Vamos a matar, compaeros (Sergio Corbucci, 1970). In the
rst two of these lms, the aborted executions are ctionalized
re-enactments of Huertas historical
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attempt to have Villa executed for robbery andin Viva
Villamurder on 4 June 1912. In both cases, the execution is
interrupted and aborted by the timely arrival of a telegram from
President Madero in which he pardons Villa.18 In Viva Villa the
rather fragmented execution sequence is photo-graphed from a
variety of angles, with predominantly long and medium long shots,
and covers most of the execution scripts routines. We are shown the
crowd of curious onlookers climbing the iron gates and lining the
place of execution, peons with wide brimmed hats digging Villas
grave, soldiers doing a drum roll and the odd emblematic maguey
plant; Villa is escorted to the execution site and placed in front
of a rubble wall. As the ring squad takes position Villa is on his
knees pleading with General Pascal (as he is called in the lm) to
spare his life. The revelation of the presidential pardon and order
to go into exile in the United States leaves Villa, who feels
betrayed by Madero, with mixed feelings. The soldiers of the ring
squad receive the news with laughter, a reaction we will come
across again with cases of mock executions. Although loosely based
on historical events, the aborted execution of the protagonist in
Viva Villa is exploited for its inherent drama and potential to
stimulate the viewers empathy with the lead character at a point
when the plot has otherwise reached a at line, some 65 minutes into
the 110-minute lm.
In La muerte de Pancho Villa the aborted execution is evoked by
the protagonist himself in an interview situation on his hacienda
in 1923. A weary and sentimental Villa, who sheds tears over the
memory of Maderos kindness, introduces the episode of Huertas
attempt to have him executed with a laconic Ese viejo peln
desgraciado, yo no le caa bien. The re-enactment seems to follow
the version given in Martn Luis Guzmns Memorias de Pancho Villa
(193840), which is based on Villas own handwritten notes. The
actual execution sequence is short and cinematographically
unimaginative. After a brief verbal exchange with the federal
soldiers, in which Villa protests his innocence, he is placed
against a wall. Moments before the volley is red, the life-saving
telegram arrives and the execution is aborted.19 Villas melancholic
comment in off as we
18 What may appear to be a conventional and, in the context of a
biopic of Villa, predictable deus ex machina, draws in reality on a
popular (but unsupported) ver-sion of the historical events, which
the lms embrace willingly. See Taibo (2006, 14651) for a more
verisimilar account of the execution attempt and a brief
discus-sion of the sources. 19 The striking resemblance between the
long shot of the ring squad aiming at Villa and the only surviving
photograph of the real-life execution attempt suggests that
Hernndez aimed at re-creating the historical event as closely as
possible
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watch his younger self walk away slowly from the execution site
leaves no doubt that he considers this to be the key experience in
his life as a revolutionary: ya conoc el secreto de perder y morir.
The overall effect of the aborted execution in La muerte de Pancho
Villa is anticlimactic. On the one hand, this is due to the
distanced and unengaged camerawork. On the other, the narrative
embedding of this sequence as Villas memories reduces the suspense
of a typically dramatic event to a minimum, since the protagonists
survival is clear from the outset.
The Spaghetti Western Vamos a matar, compaeros uses multiple
execution sequences that omit the nal routines of the execution
script in different ways. In one of them, an improvised
revolutionary ring squad is brought in to force the two
protagonists to reveal important information. When they concede,
the execution is called off. As in other lms of the same genre, the
execution is here introduced as a device that adds a moment of
suspense and moves the plot forward. More commonly in Spaghetti
Westerns, however, when a ring squad threatens a lead charac-ters
life, he miraculously manages to escape with the help of friends or
unsuspected allies. Such is the case, for example, in another scene
of Vamos a matar, compaeros, where the revolutionary presidential
candi-date with the symbolic name of Xantos is rescued at the last
minute by his supporters, as well as in Tepepa (Giulio Petroni,
1969) and Duck, You Sucker (Sergio Leone, 1971).20 This least
realistic way of thwarting an execution, characteristic of
Spaghetti Westerns story-telling conventions and uninhibited
approach to the Mexican Revolution, is rarely found in Mexican lms
(see Frayling 2006, especially chapter nine). Here, the deus ex
machina tends to be employed only where the unexpected rescue has a
basis in history or popular culture, such as in the two lms on
Villa above, or in Caballo Prieto Azabache (Ren Cardona, 1968). The
latter is an
within the parameters of a ctionalized biopic. See Taibo (2006,
150) for a repro-duction of the photograph showing Villa in front
of the ring squad. 20 Frayling remarks on Francisco de Goyas series
of etchings Los desastres de la guerra (18101814/15) as the visual
inspiration for one of the four execution sequences in Duck, You
Sucker, claiming that Leone showed some of the Disasters of War
series to [director of photography] Giuseppe Ruzzolini [], in order
to get the lighting and colour effects he wanted (2006, 137). This
anecdotal evidence is of interest insofar as it shows that there is
no single (Mexican or European) iconographical source informing the
cinematography of ring-squad executions in lms of the Mexican
Revolution. However, upon closer inspection, the actual
similarities seem to be rather generic and could just as well be
linked to Goyas painting El tres de Mayo de 1808 in Madrid (181314)
or douard Manets paintings of Maximilian of Habsburgs execution in
1867 (see below).
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Executions by Firing Squad
145
enriched adaptation of a revolutionary episode told in the
famous corrido of the same name by Pepe Albarrn. In fact, the
lyrics read like a retelling of the lms execution sequence from the
protagonists perspective. Conceived as a vehicle for the musical
performances of the actor-singer couple Antonio Aguilar and Flor
Silvestre, Caballo Prieto Azabache testies to the decadencia total
del subgnero [pico] in the 1960s, to use the words of Andrs de Luna
(1984, 282). Horse breeder Jess Aguilar is falsely accused of
having betrayed Pancho Villa and ordered to be executed, but his
last wish to die mounted on his favourite horse is granted. Moments
before the volley is red he manages to escape, break-ing through
the ring squad. The horse, however, is badly wounded in the act and
dies shortly after. As Villa and his men catch up with Aguilar,
they nd him embracing his dying horse. Moved by the fugitives
protest of innocence and his love for the horse, the caudillo
spares his life. It is clear from the outset that Aguilar will
survive the execution sequence, as the plot is framed as the horse
breeders memories at Villas grave. In accor-dance with the corrido,
the horses death as a consequence of the thwarted execution is the
lms sentimental climax.
In the Spaghetti Westerns of the Mexican Revolution above, the
escape from a ring-squad execution builds on the shock effect of
the helpers unexpected appearance, often in conjunction with the
use of some explo-sive device or vehicle. The focus is on the
getaway rather than on settling the score. A variation of this
escape paradigm can be found in Zapata: el sueo del hroe (Alfonso
Arau, 2004), where Zapata and his men come to the rescue of a group
of peasants who are about to be executed by federal soldiers. This
is the second in a close series of executions of the rural male
population in rebel territory, ordered by Huerta to put pressure on
Zapata. While the rst execution results in the death of twelve
peasants, here the soldiers of the execution squad are killed; the
cavalrymen are put to ight. Moments before Zapatas arrival at the
execution site, a crane shot shows from a high angle behind the
ring squad a perfectly symmetrical line-up of ten peasants to be
executed (Fig. 8-16). The symmetry is replaced by a succession of
brief shots from a variety of different angles, suggestive of the
chaos and violence involved in the interception. The function of
the two execution sequences in this lm is twofold. First, they
characterize Huerta and by extension the Porrist regime as ruthless
and uncompromis-ing; second, they provoke Zapata to seek direct
confrontation with Huerta, thereby driving the plot forward. In
both execution sequences in Zapata: el sueo del hroe Zapata appears
as the avenger or rescuer, not the (poten-
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tial) victim.21 Apart from Villas historically documented rescue
from a life-threatening situation before a ring squad, in Mexican
lms of the revolution thwarted executions by ring squad are few. It
would appear that throughout the twentieth century, revolutionary
executions were inex-tricably linked to death as an outcome and the
idea of surviving an execu-tion seemed inconceivable. This suggests
that ring-squad executions are offered not as individualized
instances of violence but as generic placehol-ders for
revolutionary killing more generally.
Mock executions
Another way of subverting the usual script regarding the outcome
of an execution by ring squad is to stage a mock execution.
Generally, mock executions by ring squad play on the difference
between what the lm audience believes it is seeing and what is
actually happening on screen. This information lag will typically
include the surviving individual, who had been expected to die. We
nd this situation in the Mexican romantic comedy La Valentina
(Rogelio A. Gonzlez, 1966), where early in the lm the full
execution script is performed, including the removal of the body of
the victim, leading the audience to believe that the male lead
character has actually been killed. However, it turns out that the
execution was staged so that the protagonist can be declared dead
and entrusted with a secret mission. In Juana Gallo (Miguel
Zacaras, 1960) one of the execution sequences mocks the script and
the audiences expectations with comic effect, when after the shots
have been red the victim is shown to be a portrait of the patrn
riddled with bullets, rather than the actual human being.
Two US-American lms, Old Gringo (Luis Puenzo, 1989) and And
Starring Pancho Villa As Himself (Bruce Beresford, 2003), place
gringos before the ring squad in what seems to be a spontaneous
outburst of anger on the part of a revolutionary leader. In Old
Gringo, the title charac-tera ctionalized version of Ambrose
Bierceis put up against the wall in between three enemy soldiers
because he refuses to shoot an ofcer captured in battle. As the
volley resounds, the three uniformed victims fall to the ground
dead (Fig. 8-17). A petried Bierce hears the laughter of the
revolutionaries, who never intended to kill him. Villista general
Arroyo, who ordered the mock execution, comments, Here we do not
kill our
21 See chapter nine of this volume for a detailed discussion of
Zapata: el sueo del hroe.
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friends. Still stunned, Bierce remarks to his travel companion
Harriet Winslow, It was a joke. The mock execution adds a tense
moment of suspense and, more importantly, highlights two aspects in
which Mexican cultureas the lm suggestsdiffers radically from
US-American culture: humour and friendship. The sequence brings
together in a border-line situation death and humour, illustrating
what Lomnitz has referred to as the idea of Mexicans jocular
familiarity with death (2008, 55). Bierces advanced age and
adventurous attitude make his trip to revolu-tionary Mexico a
irtation with death from the outset; accordingly he is more
receptive to Arroyos humour than his much younger companion
Winslow. However, Bierce seems to misjudge the type and resilience
of the friendship evoked by the Mexican general, who ends up
killing the gringo in the course of a heated debate. Far from being
a simple plot device, the mock execution in Old Gringo thus
proposes two areas of inter-cultural misunderstanding.
In And Starring Pancho Villa As Himself (Bruce Beresford,
2003)22 the mock execution targets three members of the US-American
lm crew under lead character Frank Thayer of Mutual Film
Corporation. When they tell Villa that their work has nished and
that they will not accompany him to Torren, the caudillo orders
them to be executed immediately, shouting Here, Pancho Villa is the
director. And Pancho Villa says who is nished and who is not
nished. As Thayer arrives at the scene seconds after the volley is
red, he realizes that the execution was a joke and that the ring
squad had instructions to miss the target. Villas men burst into
laughter. A reaction shot on Thayer reveals his bewilderment and
disgust. This sequence is one of several incidents in the lm that
characterize Pancho Villa as violent and impulse-driven. The humour
behind the mock execu-tion completely escapes Thayer. In both lms
the execution sequence has a signicant impact on the troublesome
relationship between the Mexican revolutionary leader and the
gringo, which ends in disaster.
One of the most disturbing uses of the execution script to stage
a mock execution occurs in the episode La Adelita of Cuando Viva
Villa! es la muerte (Ismael Rodrguez, 1960). Four children of
different ages between about 5 and 10 act out a ring-squad
execution using sticks as makeshift guns. The smallest girl,
wearing clothes resembling a federal uniform, is executed as a
traitor by the other three. When the children notice that their
play has been witnessed by their godfather Pancho Villa they
perform a similar mock execution with him. Although visually
these
22 See chapter ten of this volume for a more detailed discussion
of And Starring Pancho Villa As Himself.
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mock executions bear little resemblance to proper ring-squad
executions, the childrens untroubled familiarity with the sequence
of commandsPreparen! Apunten! Fuego!and other details is chilling
and suggests that they have been exposed to the ritual of such
executions. In the context of the lm, the role play soon reveals
its tragic dimension, as shortly after the childrens father is
killed as a traitor by Villas brutal sidekick Rodolfo Fierro.
Unlike in the other lms discussed, here the surprise element does
not involve the mock executions outcome but the proximity of play
and reality, and their nal conation.
Towards an Iconography of Executions by Firing Squad
The execution script offers several routines of minimal movement
within a steady frame, which can be considered equivalent to static
representations of those routines. The aiming of the ring squad
just before the order to re is given, or the very instant of the
volley being red, are such moments of minimal movement that link
lmic representations of ring squad executions to the graphic arts.
For early Mexican lms, especially by Fernndez-Figueroa, for
example, the direct inuence of graphic work by Jos Guadalupe Posada
has plausibly been claimed. Similarly, the iconic photograph
showing Fortino Smano, a captain turned bandit, facing the ring
squad in 1917, seems to be a model of bravado and closed, stoic
masculinity in the face of death (Noble 2010, 82) taken up by lms
of the Mexican Revolution. An execution sequence in Juana Gallo
(Miguel Zacaras, 1960) shows one of the two men to be executed
smoking a ciga-rette, smiling deantly at the ring squad, with his
hands in his pockets (Fig. 8-18 and 8-19).23 This mise-en-scne
clearly echoes the photograph of Smano facing the ring squad.
However, models for the visual representation of Mexican
executions by ring squad can also be found in the pre-Porrian era.
One of the most striking and inuential renderings of an execution
by ring squad in Mexico is douard Manets series of paintings of the
execution of Maxi-milian of Habsburg in 1867.24 A good 50 years
after Goya evoked in El tres de Mayo de 1808 en Madrid (181314) the
execution of Spanish 23 See Giraud (2013, 4246) for a discussion of
this and other photographs of revolutionary ring-squad executions.
24 Earlier examples of non-photographic images of executions
carried out in nine-teenth-century Mexico comprise those of
independence ghters Miguel Hidalgo and Jos Mara Morelos in 1811 and
1815, respectively, and that of Agustn de Iturbide in 1824.
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insurgents against the French occupationand possibly inspired by
the Spaniards workManet took on a major political event of the
time, painting the moment of Maximilians death. Among the
representations circulated at the time in Europe and Mexico, we nd
a rather crude composite image of this incident, based on several
photographs taken before and after the actual execution (see Noble
2010, 91; Wilson-Bareau 1992, 58).25 Drawing on this photographic
record and other documentary sources, Manet produced a more
sophisticated artistic representation of Maximilians execution (cf.
Wilson-Bareau 1992, 4862). Of particular interest for this chapter
is the fact that in the third and nal painting of this series of
about-to-die paintings Manet integrates the complete set of
ele-ments that constitute an orderly execution by ring squad: the
victims, the ring soldiers, the commanding ofcer, the soldier
responsible for ring the coup de grce, the wall in front of which
the execution is carried out and the crowd of curious
onlookers.
Manets painting of Maximilians execution was the model for the
beginning of the Spaghetti Western A Bullet for the General
(Damiano Damiani, 1966). The lms opening sequence consists of a
series of mostly medium shots and medium close-ups that introduce
the staple elements of an execution scene, withholding a complete
view of the setting. Only moments before the guns are red a long
shot shows these fragments in their spatial context. First, a
tracking shot follows four men of different ages walking quickly
past a white wall. The attentive viewer will notice the black
writing in the background pushing through the frame: Viva Carranza
el pacicador! Having turned the corner to the left, the men stop
facing away from the wall. The two younger men embrace each other;
the oldest man covers his face with a handkerchief while the fourth
is standing still with an expressionless stare on his face. A low
angle shot shows two boys with straw hats climbing a white wall
from behind and looking down in the direction of the four men. Next
we see the faces of ve soldiers in uniform lined up. Several women
of different ages are climbing a metal gate from behind, shouting
and gesticulating in the direction of the four men. At this point
we are already 24 seconds into the 40-second execution sequence,
but there is still no clear indication of what is about to
happen,
25 Andrea Noble has identied the composite image of Maximilians
execution in 1867 as the prototype for a grammar of visual design
for the multiple ring-squad images that were made repetitively
throughout the revolution (2010, 91). This may indeed be the case
with respect to the elements included in subsequent still images
(the victim, the wall, the ring squad and onlookers, 91). However,
the mise-en-scne of ring squad executions in ction lm seems a long
way removed from that rather unsophisticated composite image.
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for only now does the camera distance allow us to identify the
uniformed men as a ring squad (Fig. 8-20). The shouted order
Apunten! triggers the next routines of the execution script: the
shots are red, all but one of the victims fall to the ground; the
surviving man is killed with a coup de grce. Immediately after the
rst volley a fast zoom in on the face of a foreign-looking
bystander links the execution sequence to the gaze of the lms
unmoved lead character, El nio, a US-American hitman who says he
does not like Mexico. Simultaneously a voice-over narrator gives a
simplistic synopsis of the Mexican Revolution. Allowing for
differences in historical context, attire and location, with regard
to its iconography, this execution sequence can be read as an
extended, linear version of Manets famous painting. Like all
about-to-die images of executions, Manets painting refers to the
execution script metonymically by representing one of its routines.
In his rendering of Maximilians execution the composi-tional
elements are simultaneously present and available for observation.
The lm, on the other hand, uses these same elements to gradually
build up a visually complex scene, which is only revealed in its
entirety as the execution reaches its crucial moment. What is more,
although the lms mise-en-scne corrects the paintings awkward
perspective, some of the compositional elements are remarkably
similar. Damiani takes Manets painting as a point of departure for
composing his lmic execution sequence. From a European perspective
in 1966, removed from the Mexi-can Revolution in both space and
time, neither Damiani nor his audience can be expected to possess a
heightened awareness of the historical details of the civil war in
Mexico. By the same token, while to Mexicans the ico-nography of
revolutionary executions is more varied, drawing on a range of
pictorial sources, to the European lmmaker the iconographic model
at hand is Manets painting: an Italian looking through a Frenchmans
eyes.
Although it is possible to identify clusters of lms whose
mise-en-scnes of ring-squad executions bear certain similarities,
overall no single iconographic source can account for the diversity
of representational practice across the corpus of lms considered.
Each lm, in turn, adds to the pool of available options and is a
potential source of inspirationlms beget lms, to use Jay Leydas
famous book title.
Conclusion Taking its cue from the concept of the execution as
ritual, this chapter denes how ring-squad shootings were shot by
lmmakers portraying the Mexican Revolution. From execution
sequences inspired by historical
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events or the interpolation of documentary footage, to the most
boldly imaginative or unlikely or mocked-up executions, the corpus
demonstrates functions both aesthetic and political. By staging
executions, ction lms express collective attitudes to the
revolution, to Mexican national identity and to the public
spectacle of ritualized human killing. They create moving images so
visually stunning that they form an iconographic tradition both
deriving from collective memory and further generating it.
Firing-squad executions on lm come to incapsulate the Mexican
Revolution in the way that piles of victims cast-off shoes in
museums incapsulate the holocaust. Having examined the political
implications of the execution sequence as everyday savagery,
generation conict or individualized victimhood, and having examined
the aesthetic implications of the execution sequences vivid
sensationalism, dramatic suspense and memorable visual
composi-tion, this chapter posits the execution script as a means
to pinpoint and analyze representational practice. Firing-squad
execution on lm is taken here to be a ritual, an established
procedure for a rite, the observance of a set form of public
behaviour, and a solemn ceremony consisting of a series of routines
in a prescribed order. As a framework for analysis, the thirteen
routines of the execution script posited here allow otherwise
diverse lms of the Mexican Revolution to be assigned a precise
place in the corpus in terms of their utilization and omission of
the routines that make up the execution ritual. The innovation of
the script reveals execution by ring squad to be much richer in
cinematic possibilities than a mere stock trope, whilst also
elucidating the related representations of thwarted executions and
mock executions, which would otherwise be dismissed from the
corpus. What emerges from the script-lead reading of the lms is a
sense of the graphic heritage behind the impact of the executions
in lmexem-plied by the resonance of Posadas images, the Smano
photograph and Manets Maximilian painting. Above all, however, the
orderliness and structuredness of the lmed executions, the
perpetuation of their graphic routines, alongside their wide
dissemination in Mexican Revolution lm-making reveal the haunting
of a culture. In shooting the shootings, lm-makers in Mexico
created what with Derrida (1994) we could refer to as the master
spectre of revolutionary violence.
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Works Cited
Films As era Pancho Villa. 1957. Directed by Ismael Rodrguez.
Mexico. El automvil gris. 1919. Directed by Enrique Rosas. Mexico.
A Bullet for the General. 1966. Directed by Damiano Damiani. Italy.
Caballo Prieto Azabache. 1968. Directed by Ren Cardona. Mexico. El
compadre Mendoza. 1934. Directed by Fernando de Fuentes. Mexico.
Cuando Viva Villa! es la muerte. 1960. Directed by Ismael
Rodrguez.
Mexico. Un da de vida. 1950. Directed by Emilio Fernndez.
Mexico. Un dorado de Pancho Villa. 1967. Directed by Emilio
Fernndez. Mexico. Duck, You Sucker. 1971. Directed by Sergio Leone.
Italy. Emiliano Zapata. 1970. Directed by Felipe Cazals. Mexico.
Enamorada. 1947. Directed by Emilio Fernndez. Mexico. Flor
silvestre. 1943. Directed by Emilio Fernndez. Mexico. La Generala.
1970. Directed by Juan Ibez. Mexico. El hombre de Ro Malo. 1971.
Directed by Eugenio Martn. Spain / Italy /
France. Juana Gallo. 1960. Directed by Miguel Zacaras. Mexico.
The Mexican Joan of Arc. 1911. Directed by Kenean Buel. Kalem
Film
Manufacturing Company. USA. Old Gringo. 1989. Directed by Luis
Puenzo. USA. La muerte de Pancho Villa. 1974. Directed by Mario
Hernndez. Mexico. El prisionero 13. 1933. Directed by Fernando de
Fuentes. Mexico. Los rollos perdidos de Pancho Villa. 2003.
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Mexico. El Siete Leguas o el caballo de Pancho Villa. 1955.
Directed by Ral de
Anda. Mexico. And Starring Pancho Villa As Himself. 2003.
Directed by Bruce Beresford.
USA. Tepepa. 1969. Directed by Giulio Petroni. 1968. Italy /
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matar, compaeros. 1970. Directed by Sergio Corbucci. Italy /
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Directed by Juan Bustillo Oro.
Mexico. Viva Villa. 1934. Directed by Jack Conway. USA. Zapata:
el sueo del hroe. 2004. Directed by Alfonso Arau. Mexico.
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