Viva Zapata! (1952)

Directed by

Elia Kazan

Genre

drama film, Western film, war film, biographical film

Country

United States

Runtime

1h 53m

Rated

12

Rating

6.9 of 10 from 240 voters

Elsewhere

IMDb

How it feels

A biographical film about the life of Mexican revolutionary Emiliano Zapata. It follows his journey from a peasant farmer to a leader fighting for land rights against a dictatorship.

epicpoliticalpassionategrittyvisually strikingearnestslow-burndramatic

What happens

Viva Zapata! is a 1952 American biographical Western film directed by Elia Kazan, dramatizing the life of Mexican revolutionary Emiliano Zapata from his peasant upbringing through his rise to power in the early 1900s and his death in 1919. It stars Marlon Brando as the title character, and features Jean Peters as his wife Josefa and Anthony Quinn as his brother Eufemio. The screenplay was written by John Steinbeck, using Edgcumb Pinchon's 1941 book Zapata the Unconquerable as a guide. To make the film as authentic as possible, Kazan and producer Darryl F. Zanuck studied the numerous photographs that were taken during the revolutionary years, the period between 1909 and 1919, when Zapata led the fight to restore land taken from common people during the dictatorship of Porfirio Díaz. Kazan was especially impressed with the Agustín Casasola collection of photographs, and he attempted to duplicate their visual style in the film. Kazan also acknowledged the influence of Roberto Rossellini's Paisan (1946). The film was released by 20th Century Fox on February 13, 1952. It received generally positive reviews from critics and was nominated for five Academy Awards, with Anthony Quinn winning for Best Supporting Actor. (from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA)

Trailer

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