Review of Victims of Sin / Víctimas del Pecado, directed by Emilio Fernández

Hello! If you’re new here, welcome. You probably stumbled on this little blog of mine through the mythical and magical powers of the Internet. Most likely Google, judging from my analytics, but if you’re a consistent reader here on the blog, welcome back. I’m happy to have you in my digital home.

My name is Ashley, and I used to work professionally as a film critic. I did that for three years while I was in graduate school, and it was cool. Got to meet a lot of famous people, go to the film festivals, interviewed some filmmakers who are now people I look up to. Eventually I wanted to do my own thing though, which is how this blog came to be in the end.

I recently fell into a period of unemployment, and this blog was one of the few income streams I had left. Those little ads in the corner give me a few pennies here and there, but when I sat down and did my finances when my potential job was gone, I realized I had enough to take some time off. And I did.

I also got a Criterion subscription during this period because I was determined to watch all of the movies I hadn’t gotten to when I was way too busy being employed. I wasn’t planning on getting the annual one because of money, but to instead watch as many movies over the span of three months and then find the rest on platforms like Kanopy, which my library thankfully gives out.

Victims of Sin was one of the first movies I watched when I acquired the subscription. I’ve been meaning to watch more Latin American and Mexican cinema in general, so when I read the synopsis of this film, I was sold immediately. I wanted to watch it right then and there, and because I had nothing else to do on this afternoon, I did.

Let’s get into the review! I don’t want to ramble too much, as I know introductions can get quite long.

A dancer at a cabaret takes in an abandoned young boy, leading to an incredible series of circumstances.

The world of this film largely takes place in Mexico City, specifically within its red light district. An infant is abandoned in a trash can outside of a well-known cabaret in the area, and Cuban dancer Violeta, who is a crowd pleaser when she comes out to dance each night, is horrified to hear about this.

She decides to take in the child and raise him as a mother. However, she’d be a single mother in the act of doing so, and a dancing salary can only get you so far these days. She doesn’t care about this though, and takes the boy anyways. The owner of the nightclub, Rodolfo, also vehemently disagrees with her actions.

Good thing another man has his eyes on her: Santiago. He runs a different nightclub and cabaret in the district, and he falls in love with Violeta’s charm and smile. He wants to help her raise the child as they fall even more in love with each other, and they do just that.

Six years pass without conflict. Violeta is still dancing at his nightclub, the boy is a little bit more grown, and the couple is still quite in love. But we have to remember: this is a Golden Age Mexican film, and there’s tragedy and conflict to come in this story. We truly couldn’t let our main characters live happily in the end, am I right?

One night Rodolfo, seeking vengeance for what has been done to him earlier in the film, comes back to the club. Violeta watches as he comes into the club, stalking through the crowds like a panther, and Santiago intercepts him and tells him to go outside with him.

But when the duo goes outside, Rodolfo shoots Santiago dead on the street, leaving Violeta a widow and their son without a father figure. She’s enraged by what she comes outside and witnesses, and swears to get back at Rodolfo.

She does end up coming after Rodolfo and killing him in cold blood, but there’s a major consequence for it: she’s put in jail. It’s quite a tragic revenge story in that sense, as we see her son coming to visit her while she’s in jail, making pennies here and there by shining shoes and doing odd jobs on the street.

The movie ends with a warden figuring out a way to get Violeta out of there, and she walks into freedom with her son, ready to move on towards a brighter future for them both beyond what’s happened.

Overall Thoughts

I had never heard of this movie before I saw it on Criterion, and I was seriously impressed. I’ve seen other Mexican movies before, but they’re more contemporary. I really want to see more movies from this period of Mexican history, that’s for sure.

Regardless, this is a fairly straightforward movie with no frills. It flew by for me, and while the characters aren’t super nuanced, I was curious about Violeta’s background as a Cuban dancer. My academic background is in broader Asia, so Latin American migrations during the mid twentieth century definitely is way outside of what I know.

Despite thar, I want to know about how this character ended up here and more of her background. That’s where the straightforward aspect I mentioned before comes into play—we don’t really get to know these characters outside of their assigned roles in these theatrics.

I think you should watch this movie if you’re interested! It was a good time all in all, and I think I would rewatch it in the distant future.

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