Underplayed Gems

Chac: Dios de la lluvia (1975)

Chac: Dios de la lluvia poster
Directed by
Rolando Klein
Genre
independent film
Country
Panama, Mexico
Runtime
1h 35m
Rated
NR
Rating
6.4 of 10 from 12 voters
Elsewhere
IMDb
The 3D catalogue: film cases on wooden shelves, with the cat sitting at the counter next to its greeting.

The catalogue in 3D

The film shelves have a room of their own that you can walk around in. The cat behind the counter is the AI Catbot, and they pick real films from the same catalogue when you tell them what you feel like watching. Nothing is for sale, here or in there. Go in from here and this film is already out on the counter, with more like it waiting on the shelf next to it.

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How it feels

Modern Maya people call on an ancient rain god using traditional rituals. The film follows their efforts and is spoken in Maya languages.

contemplativeatmosphericculturalslow-pacedgroundedobservationalsolemnritualistic

What happens

Chac: Dios de la lluvia, also released as Chac: the Rain God and simply Chac, is a 1975 film written and directed by Rolando Klein. The film involves modern Maya peoples invoking the traditional rain deity Chaac. The film is in the Maya languages. The majority of the cast speaks Tzeltal Maya, but one of the main actors, Pablo Canche Balam who plays the shaman, speaks Yucatec Maya. Alonso Méndez Ton, who plays the cacique, was born in the city of Tenejapa, in the state of Chiapas, where he collaborated in ethnographic research. He had finished his term as mayor of Tenejapa when the movie was made. The film is referenced in Richard Kadrey's novel Aloha From Hell where it is called Las montañas del Gehenna (a title that appears nowhere else). The narrator's plot description is basically accurate though he does incorrectly call it a "Mexican spaghetti western". (from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA)

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