Familia De Tantas, Una (BLU-RAY)
Director Alejandro Galindo is an attentive observer of social realities. A Family Like Many Others is not only the most popular and beloved family melodrama of the Golden Age of Mexican Cinema, it's also an intelligent, subtle cinematic dialogue with the audience. Widely considered a masterpiece, the film reflects the morals of the urban middle class and questions the authoritarian logic of family structure. Galindo purposely displaces genre conventions, offering instead freedom of interpretation.
Fernando Soler (Rodrigo Cataño) rules his household with draconian authority. The family's conservative, middle-class life is shaken by a young salesman (David Silva) who attracts the attention of 15-year-old daughter Maru (Martha Roth). In addition to traditional melodramatic elements, the film also features themes of adolescence and finding one's own independence. Maru's rebellion is in open opposition to the entrenched patriarchal regime and a refusal to passively accept traditional gender roles. (Museum of Fine Arts, Houston)