{{Short description|1937 film}} {{Infobox film | name = Such Is My Country | image = File:Such Is My Country.jpg | alt = | caption = | director = Arcady Boytler | producer = Pedro Maus<br>Felipe Mier | writer = Arcady Boytler<br>Enrique Uthoff | screenplay = | story = | based_on = | starring = Mario Moreno «Cantinflas»<br>Manuel Medel<br>Antonio R. Frausto<br>Luis G. Barreiro<br>Mercedes Soler<br>Juan José Martínez Casado | music = Ignacio Fernández Esperón | cinematography = Víctor Herrera | editing = José Marino | studio = CISA | distributor = Artistas Unidos de México | released = {{Film date|1937|9|15|Mexico|df=yes}} | runtime = 82 minutes | country = Mexico | language = Spanish | budget = | gross = }} '''''Such Is My Country''''' ({{langx|es|'''¡Así es mi tierra!'''}}) is a 1937 Mexican comedy film directed by Arcady Boytler and starring Antonio R. Frausto, Mercedes Soler, Juan José Martínez Casado, Manuel Medel, and Mario Moreno «Cantinflas».<ref>{{cite book |last1=García Riera |first1=Emilio |last2=Macotela |first2=Fernando |title=La guía del cine mexicano de la pantalla grande a la televisión, 1919–1984 |year=1984 |publisher=Editorial Patria |isbn=9789683900296 |pages=15, 35}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Agrasánchez |first1=Rogelio |title=Carteles de la Época de Oro, 1936–1956 |year=2001 |publisher=Chronicle Books |isbn=9780811830584 |page=1930}}</ref> It was the first film to feature Cantinflas in a prominent role (his film debut ''Don't Fool Yourself Dear'' only featuring him in a brief appearance) and the first of Cantinflas's films together with Medel as a team.<ref name="Werner"/>
The film's sets were designed by the art director José Rodríguez Granada.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Criollo L. |first1=Raúl Alberto |title=Tendencias del cine mexicano de los años 30 |year=1998 |publisher=CONACULTA |page=81}}</ref>
==Plot== In 1916, in the middle of the Mexican Revolution, a General (Antonio R. Frausto) returns to his home village, where he is received with a great party. The general is interested in the young Isabelita (Mercedes Soler), without knowing that she already maintains a secret romance with Filomeno (Juan José Martínez Casado). Meanwhile, "El Tejón" (Cantinflas), a farmhand who idolizes the General, and Procopio (Manuel Medel), the General's right-hand man, are vying for the love of ranchwoman Cholita (Margarita Cortés).
==Cast== *Mario Moreno «Cantinflas» as El Tejón *Manuel Medel as Procopio *Antonio R. Frausto as General *Luis G. Barreiro as Licenciado *Mercedes Soler as Isabelita *Juan José Martínez Casado as Filomeno (as J.J. Martinez Casado) *Margarita Cortés as Cholita *Amelia Wilhelmy as Adelita *Josefina Segarra as Doña Tomasa *Ángel T. Sala as Compadre Gallo *Miguel Wimer as Cayetano *Luis Ureña as Nicanor *Ángel Arzamendi as Don Chon *Guillermo Calles as Gonzalo *Antonio Garay as Gómez *Ana María Castañeda as Restituta *Carolina Barret as Carolina (uncredited) *Leonor Gómez as Lupe (uncredited) *José Elías Moreno as Party guest (uncredited) *Alicia Reyna as Cook at party (uncredited) *José Ignacio Rocha as Party guest (uncredited)
==Analysis== The authors of ''Mexico: An Encyclopedia of Contemporary Culture and History'' argue that the film parodied the ''comedia ranchera'' film genre, saying, "Given his decidedly un-macho persona, it seems appropriate and hardly coincidental that the first target of his humor was that the most manly of Mexican film genres, ''comedia ranchera''."<ref>{{cite book |last1=Coerver |first1=Don M. |last2=Pasztor |first2=Suzanne B. |last3=Buffington |first3=Robert |title=Mexico: An Encyclopedia of Contemporary Culture and History |year=2004 |publisher=ABC-CLIO |isbn=1-576071-32-4 |page=59 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YSred4NyOKoC&pg=PA59}}</ref> Michael Werner in his ''Concise Encyclopedia of Mexico'' complimented the "Eisensteinian aesthetics that Boytler incorporates" to the film.<ref name="Werner">{{cite book |last1=Werner |first1=Michael |title=Concise Encyclopedia of Mexico |year=2015 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-135-97370-4 |page=489 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MOI4CQAAQBAJ&pg=PA489}}</ref> Conversely, in his books ''Escenas de pudor y liviandad'' and ''Los ídolos a nado: Una antología global'', Carlos Monsiváis stated that Cantinflas's ''pelado'' character was incompatible with the rural setting of the film, in contrast to the city setting of his later films, saying that "[his thing] is the new urban sensibility."<ref>{{cite book |last1=Monsiváis |first1=Carlos |title=Escenas de pudor y liviandad |year=2016 |publisher=Penguin Random House Grupo Editorial México |isbn=9786073148245 |pages=87–88 |language=Spanish |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QFfODAAAQBAJ&pg=PT87}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Monsiváis |first1=Carlos |title=Los ídolos a nado: Una antología global |year=2011 |publisher=Penguin Random House Grupo Editorial España |isbn=9788499920580 |page=92 |language=Spanish |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ewxWVcwX4h4C&pg=PT92}}</ref> In his book ''Más allá de las lágrimas'', Isaac León Frías collects Aurelio de los Reyes's criticism of the film's limited exterior filming, contrasting it with ''Allá en el Rancho Grande'' saying, "It tries to capture the return home of the revolutionaries, but the return is a pretext for the action to take place 'inside walls' on film sets. Outdoors and natural settings take second place, the opposite of ''Allá en el Rancho Grande''. It takes refuge in the studios perhaps because another reality is more comfortably manufactured there."<ref>{{cite book |last1=León Frías |first1=Isaac |title=Más allá de las lágrimas: Espacios habitables en el cine clásico de México y Argentina |year=2019 |publisher=Fondo Editorial Universidad de Lima |isbn=978-9972-45-486-8 |page=266 |language=Spanish |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8TOXDwAAQBAJ&pg=PT266}}</ref>
==References== {{reflist}}
==External links== *{{IMDb title|0162061}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Such Is My Country}} Category:1937 comedy films Category:1937 films Category:Mexican comedy films Category:Mexican black-and-white films Category:Films directed by Arcady Boytler Category:1937 Spanish-language films Category:Spanish-language comedy films Category:Mexican Revolution films Category:1937 Mexican films