A portrait of the unique, non-patriarchal culture within the Mexican city Juchitan. In Juchitan, societal roles are not classified in terms of sex, and women, men and transgendered people enjoy equal rights.
Proceeding respectfully, with a measure of skepticism, Maureen Gosling and Ellen Osborne's doc doesn't exactly crumple but loses momentum through vagueness.
Gosling's schoolmarmish narration betrays the filmmakers' awestruck naivete toward the culture, which they seem to consider some sort of matriarchal utopia.
Blossoms of Fire is a dazzling film that celebrates the extraordinary livesof the Isthmus Zapotecs of southern Oaxaca, Mexico, a people with strong work ethic, fierce independence, and deep sense of pride in their culture. Visually appealing to watch as the women wear brightly colored embroidered finery to work every
day. Their clothing is legendary in Juchitán, and depicted in paintings by artists like Miguel Covarrubias andFrida Kahlo. The film is also laced throughout with traditional music which works as a nice canvas to paint the movie on. The women here are powerful and intelligent. They handle the money, not the men. Not to say that the men do not work hard also, because the do, if not harder than the women. Learning about their rich culture excited me and made me want to visit. But then the film began to document the challenges many face in their work and their families and the globalization which is radically changing the way many live in this area. Some battles are maintaining their Zapotec culture and language.Blossoms of Fire was made over a period of ten years and it sure shows. The film is well put together and very interesting. The people are deeply involved in the politics and there was a whole section of the film dedicated to the discovery of their past, and why these people may be so active in government. Another part of the film was dedicated to gender roles and gender identification which to me seemed to go on longer than needed and wasn't really as interesting as the rest of the film. The most interesting theme was the dispute if there was a matriarchal hierarchy or not.
great doc which shed some light on such diverse things (for me) as why frida painted herself in the native lace costumes and their deeper meanings in some of her art, this doc manages to both teach & delight.
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