Canoa: A Shameful Memory

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1h 55m

Drama

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86%

7 Reviews

Tomatometer

87%

500+ Ratings

Audience Score

A priest in a small town creates a lynch mob when he accuses visiting students of being communist agitators on the run from the army in Mexico City.

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Fandango at Home

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Rent Canoa: A Shameful Memory on Fandango at Home, Prime Video, or buy it on Fandango at Home, Prime Video.

Wael Khairy

The Cinephile Fix

This brutal film is a complex psychological study of group hysteria, mob mentality, and religious fanaticism.

Apr 20, 2023

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Nicholas Bell

IONCINEMA.com

Canoa: A Shameful Memory is a horrific reenactment worthy of reexamination in our increasingly troubled political climate.

Rated: 4/5

Sep 11, 2020

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David Harris

Spectrum Culture

Canoa is a film with a horrific message that is still timely and important.

Sep 30, 2019

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Nathanael Hood

Audiences Everywhere

...stripped from all this historical and cultural context, many modern viewers unfamiliar with Mexican cinema might find the film ponderous, uneven, and even disengaging.

Rated: B-

Dec 27, 2018

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Sean Axmaker

Stream on Demand

[T]he portrait of a community leader manipulating the ignorant and illiterate to blindly follow him through fear, xenophobia, and religion is relevant to any time and place ...

Apr 21, 2017

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James Kendrick

Q Network Film Desk

a particularly sharp, unrelenting portrait of how groups and individuals-anywhere at any time-can be demonized to the point of inciting physical violence

Rated: 3.5/4

Apr 3, 2017

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S R

Despite its manipulative tone against the church and problems with Mexican government, this film still bears weight and has a powerful story about the dangers of mobs, law and order, and fractured government. I don't plan to see it again, but I hope it inspires all who do to go against mobs. Saw on TCM.

Rated 3 out of 5 stars

01/25/24

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marc r

Unfolds like a horror film, yet scarier than most for being situated in a political climate that can stand for many others.

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

03/31/23

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Audience Member

"Mass manipulation" is a tough word, but in some cases it correctly applies. During the presidency of Luis Echeverría (1970-1976), a significantly major cinematographic freedom was given to the industry and censorship regarding sensitive sociopolitical questionings came to a stop. Felipe Cazals, Jorge Fons and Jaime Humberto Hermosillo were the men that raised from the ashes and spoke out loud. The role of Cazals was daring. In what may be his (first?, second?) best film, government is confronted through eyes of hypocrisy and, indeed, manipulation. It is a brutal reflection about the weight of the social and political power of the Church in society, and about the strong use of religious and anticommunist ideologies in times of harshness and inner turmoil and confusion. But Cazals is intelligent. he never forgot about the rural heart. That is why he introduces us the town of San Miguel de Canoa in a faithful documentary style, and shows us his internal conflicts as well. Judging acts is very difficult when we do not consider what is behind the curtain, AND WE <b>ALMOST NEVER</b> SEE WHAT IS BEHIND THE CURTAIN!!! 95/100

Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars

01/22/23

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Audience Member

Mexican docudrama about a group of guys on a hiking trip get beaten and some killed by a town of backwoods hicks lead by their priest. Based on true events that took place in 1968, too bad the action and acting didn't age too well. Really boring film.

Rated 2 out of 5 stars

02/12/23

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Audience Member

LETTERBOX. Genial película sabe encontrar el balance entre la sátira, la denuncia y la tragedia. Es a la vez furiosa y humanista, con un rigor cinematográfico admirable. / Genial film finds balance between satire, denunciation, and tragedy. It is simultaneously angry and humanistic, with an admirable cinematic rigor.

Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars

02/21/23

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Audience Member

Un clasico del cine mexicano que retrata con alta fidelidad las consecuencias de la manipulacion masiva y el mal menejo de la informacion aunados al analfabetismo que existe aun en muchas zonas del pais. Demasiado cruda para su tiempo y tambien algo tendenciosa. No obstante una muy buena pelicula.

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

02/24/23

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Felipe Cazals

Director

Enrique Lucero

El señor cura

Salvador Sánchez

El testigo

Ernesto Gómez Cruz

Lucas García

Roberto Sosa

Julián González Baez

Arturo Alegro

Ramón Calvario Gutiérrez

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Synopsis

A priest in a small town creates a lynch mob when he accuses visiting students of being communist agitators on the run from the army in Mexico City.

Director: Felipe Cazals
Genre: Drama
Original Language: Spanish
Release Date (Streaming): Mar 14, 2017
Runtime: 1h 55m

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