Dos monjes (1934)

Dos monjes: Directed by Juan Bustillo Oro. With Víctor Urruchúa, Carlos Villatoro, Magda Haller, Beltrán de Heredia. In a Gothic-styled monastery, a monk named Javier sees the face of another monk, Juan, and suddenly attempts to bludgeon him to death with a heavy crucifix. Both men then relate their own versions of a story of romantic rivalry between them. Javier, a consumptive musician, fell in love with and was betrothed to Anita. When his old friend Juan appeared, he was ecstatic. But soon, it seemed that Juan was making a play for Anita. When Javier found them in an apparently compromising position, a tussle ensued, and Anita was accidentally shot and killed. The two versions of the story differ significantly in Juan’s motivations and in the details of Anita’s death. Both men later became monks, leading to their latest encounter. As Juan begins to recover from the blow, Javier is subjected to horrific hallucinations.

“A plot device that has been played both for comedy (u0026#39;The Caucasian Chalk Circleu0026#39;) and melodrama (u0026#39;Days of Heavenu0026#39;) is here combined with the narrative twist usually attributed to u0026#39;Rashomonu0026#39;, although it actually dates back well into the silent era; at least as early as John Stahlu0026#39;s u0026#39;The Woman Under Oathu0026#39; (1919).u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eDirected for all its worth by Juan Bustillo Oro with abrupt optical wipes and dollies rather creakily executed with the rather basic facilities available to him; it boasts an extraordinary hallucination sequence near the end for which all the cast wear masks.”