José Revueltas, film writer: the script The Other

Abstract

In 1944 the Mexican writer José Revueltas began his adventure in Mexican cinema. Since then, and until 1960, Revueltas will appear as screenwriter in the credits of twenty-four Mexican movies, and in one more in 1975: the adaptation of his own novel El apando. Four screenplays by Revueltas were also published: La otra, Tierra y libertad, Los albañiles, El apando. This article is a critical analysis of Revueltas’ screenplay La otra. The study focuses on the narrative functioning of this screenplay as a filmic text and has the specific aim of reinserting La otra within the context of Revueltas’ literary production. The presence of mirrors and reflection as central elements of representation of identity and the double; the prison as sign and representation of alienation; guilt (fratricide) and punishment; pity towards the guilty (female) character: all these elements demonstrate that the screenplay La otra is closely related to Revueltas’ narrative universe and literary ideas.