1998

S1.E1 ∙ Díaz Ordaz y el 68

Wed, Dec 31, 1969

Díaz Ordaz would maintain the economic development of the country and even take it further, but he would confront a tumultuous rejection of authoritarian politics that would culminate with the student movement of 1968, just before Mexico was to be host to the Olympic Games. It was his decision to break the movement and unleash the massacre of students in Tlatelolco, a repression so savage that it would change the future of Mexico. He would live the rest of his life underneath this dark cloud.

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S1.E2 ∙ Gustavo Díaz Ordaz, El rompecabezas

Wed, Dec 31, 1969

An addict of puzzles and riddles, Gustavo Díaz Ordaz grew up in a poor family that had seen better days. He professed a rigid conception of order, law and tradition. This documentary explores his character, his ugliness complex, his financial honesty and his terror of disorder, in an attempt to understand the nature of the man who would give the order to commit one of the worst political crimes in Mexican history.

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S1.E3 ∙ Lázaro Cárdenas, Entre el pueblo y el poder

Wed, Dec 31, 1969

This documentary of Cárdenas's six-year term covers one of the most vigorous periods of change in the history of modern Mexico. The double-edged quality of the new regime is central to the program: on the one hand, there was an emphasis on the welfare of the majority, yet there was also a strengthening of the corporate state.

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S1.E4 ∙ Lázaro Cárdenas, El hombre y el mito

Wed, Dec 31, 1969

Cárdenas, the most charismatic president of modern Mexican history, joined the Revolution at fourteen years of age and grew up with it. Our biography follows his adventurous youth as one of the youngest generals of the Revolution, his friendship with General Calles, his first official posts and the creation of his political ideas and character, while also examining the interaction between the man and the legend that was created around him.

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S1.E5 ∙ Ávila Camacho, La unidad nacional

Wed, Dec 31, 1969

Manuel Ávila Camacho's presidency includes Mexico's entry into World War II, the beginnings of an accelerated growth in the economy and a path toward national unity. This program depicts Ávila Camacho's dramatic choice: his decision to choose Miguel Alemán as his successor was important for he would be Mexico's first civilian president.

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S1.E6 ∙ Ávila Camacho, El general caballero

Wed, Dec 31, 1969

Cárdenas's chosen successor, Ávila Camacho represented an ideal of moderation and union after decades of armed struggle. Born in the rich state of Veracruz, he showed an instinctual preference for negotiation and compromise, and he rejected bloodshed. His brother, Maximino, a tyrannical macho, bloody and merely tolerated by his brother, represents the dark side of his family's heritage.

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S1.E7 ∙ Miguel Alemán, El presidente empresario

Wed, Dec 31, 1969

Son of a revolutionary, Miguel Alemán Valdés went through youth being deeply marked by poverty. The portrait of the relationship he had with his father - full of love and resentment - and the struggle to leave poverty behind through his participation in business and politics, as well as the seductive and charismatic qualities of this 'young buck of the Revolution' are developed in this program against the rich background of Veracruz, the state where he was born.

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S1.E8 ∙ Miguel Alemán Valdés, El cachorro de la revolución

Wed, Dec 31, 1969

This program presents the great businessman among the presidents of Mexico. He ruled during a boom time and changed much of the practical spirit of revolutionary principles. His six-year term was one of corruption and decline in political liberties, although it was accompanied by economic expansion and enormous growth of Mexico City - with the construction of the Ciudad Universitaria (university zone) - and an increase in relations with the United States.

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S1.E9 ∙ Adolfo Ruiz Cortines, El apogeo del sistema

Wed, Dec 31, 1969

Adolfo Ruiz Cortines's six-year term marked the zenith of the one-party, corporate system. The public Ruiz Cortines, serious, patriarchal, solemnly patriotic, was the image of the system which worked smoothly. His visits to neighborhood markets, to check out and ensure the proper prices and weights for tortillas, became legendary. At the end of his term, upheavals in labor and the beginnings of the 1960's foreshadowed fractures in the system that were to come.

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S1.E10 ∙ Adolfo Ruiz Cortines, El jugador de dominó

Wed, Dec 31, 1969

Adolfo Ruiz Cortines was from the port of Veracruz, with its tropical style of life and its love of the game of dominos. He lived through the occupation of Veracruz by United States marines and had a long career as a public servant, with a reputation for being honest and \'tight\' when it came to spending. Then came the day when Alemán chose him as a presidential candidate, making him the oldest president in post-revolutionary Mexico at the age of sixty.

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S1.E11 ∙ López Mateos, Pan y palo

Wed, Dec 31, 1969

President López Mateos visited the world and brought principal leaders of the world to Mexico. This documentary shows the critical moment of the railway strike, the official and popular answers in response to the Cuban Revolution, the restlessness in the countryside and the great popularity of López Mateos, the indefatigable traveler.

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S1.E12 ∙ López Mateos, Historia de un seductor

Wed, Dec 31, 1969

Adolfo López Mateos, a national speech and oratory champion, easily won men\'s sympathy and women\'s love. As a student, he participated in José Vasconcelos\'s presidential campaign which was violently repressed. Due to his strong conciliatory capabilities in labor disputes, he would attract the attention of his superiors and, finally, win over the imperial consent of Ruiz Cortines.

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S1.E13 ∙ México en la Segunda Guerra Mundial

Wed, Dec 31, 1969

In 1942, Mexico entered World War II on the side of the Allied forces, despite the opposition of a large part of the middle and upper classes that sympathized with the Axis powers and hated the United States. Mexico participated with aviators in the War of the Pacific, an eruption of patriotism ensued, and more than anything, there was a growth in the prosperity of Mexican industry (which was safe from any attack and helped by the United States). This program looks at the economic and psychological effects produced by the Second World War in Mexico.

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S1.E14 ∙ La batalla por el D.F.: Crónica de una campaña

Wed, Dec 31, 1969

A look at the last few months of campaigning for the post of chief of government of Mexico City in 1997, the first contemporary electoral competition for a post that traditionally depended upon a designated appointment made by the president of the republic. The victory of Cuahutémoc Cárdenas, from the PRD, signaled the first time that a representative of an opposition party reached "the second most important post in the country". It was a campaign of intense emotions, advertising innovations and extensive dirty tricks. The program follows the campaign in the streets and also in the hearts of citizens who express their points of view about the candidates and about democracy.

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S1.E15 ∙ Orozco según Orozco

Wed, Dec 31, 1969

One of the richest visual presentations made about the work of José Clemente Orozco. In this piece his works appear in counterpoint to his own words: some are frank and direct, while others are ironic, in order to suggest the complexity of Orozco's creative power through a reciprocal play of word and image.

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S1.E16 ∙ No me parezco a nadie, La vida de Pedro Infante

Wed, Dec 31, 1969

This program deals with the life and the tragic death of one of the most beloved male stars of Mexican cinema. Pedro Infante played ranch owners, singers, urban boxers, good and trustworthy sons, and heroic policemen riding motorcycles. More than any other actor, he represented the transition of rural Mexican imagery to the forms of the city.

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S1.E17 ∙ La vida de Javier Solís, El señor de las sombras

Wed, Dec 31, 1969

The third of the big three leading men was born in a needy neighborhood of Mexico City, and his rise to stardom was a quick journey from poverty to wealth. His origins, in comparison to those of Negrete and Infante, made him better equipped to represent the poor Mexican man, with his problems and his temptations. With Solís, singing heroes of the Mexican cinema laid down roots in a city that was less idealized and more real.

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S1.E18 ∙ Jorge el bueno, La vida de Jorge Negrete

Wed, Dec 31, 1969

Jorge Negrete, a young man from a middle-class background who had studied opera, transformed himself into the great singer of ranchera music in Mexican cinema. His version of the Mexican charro established an image of the Mexican as a man of honor and a man on horseback. This program gives a look at his best films and the most important happenings of his life, including the gigantic public event that was his wedding with the actress María Félix.

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S1.E19 ∙ La vida de Joaquín Pardavé

Wed, Dec 31, 1969

Joaquín Pardavé is one of the greatest comic actors of Mexico. He played clueless aristocrats from the nineteenth century, Spanish and Lebanese immigrants from the twentieth century, loving fathers and lovesick old men (he was also an inspired song composer). Thanks to his immense talent, Pardavé, who paradoxically lived an unfortunate childhood, has made many generations laugh.

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S1.E20 ∙ La ciudad que canta, Música de la calle

Wed, Dec 31, 1969

A geographical and indirectly sociological journey through some of the most interesting neighborhoods of Mexico City, following the trail of music that is heard on the streets. Each area possesses a particular sort of music that reflects its character, and each musician displays his or her own emotional variations on this trip throughout one of the largest cities of the world.

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S1.E21 ∙ El cine mexicano, Las grandes décadas

Wed, Dec 31, 1969

This program is the first of two parts that deal with the history of Mexican cinema. ''The Great Decades'' is the saga of a film industry born at the turn of the twentieth century into a culture marked by a long and impressive history of visual talent. How a rich culture of silent film was created and how Mexican film became the fifth largest producer in the world during its golden age of the 1940's and the first few years of the 1950's remain the central concerns. The effect of private and public support from the US is considered, but above all, the success of the industry is considered in relation to the talent of the industry's directors, actors and technical specialists.

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S1.E22 ∙ Colonia Roma, Vida y arquitectura

Wed, Dec 31, 1969

Colonia Roma is an old neighborhood with some of the greatest traditions in our city. Its creation represents the final effort of the Portiriato - the years of Porfirio Díaz's regime - to make the capital of the country a modern city on a par in every sense with any other capital city of the world.

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S1.E23 ∙ La radio mexicana

Wed, Dec 31, 1969

In its best days. Mexican radio was the most important and innovative radio all of Latin America. It broadcast Mexican music and created new stars and forms of popular narrative. The experience of the radio directly influenced the development of television, but the radio also would take new and modern directions and it continued molding the tastes and opinions of Mexicans. This documentary includes the most important steps taken by Mexican radio as well as some fascinating anecdotes, including one about a businessman from Kansas dedicated to selling music as much as surgical treatments to recuperate sexual vigor - all of this from his radio diffusion system established on Mexican national territory.

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S1.E24 ∙ Radio II, La vida íntima de la radio

Wed, Dec 31, 1969

This program presents Mexican radio from its intimate side: the sweet and bittersweet memories of its protagonists, the highs and lows of game shows, of celebrities, of radio soap operas and of modern advice programs, whose hosts confront a flood of personal problems - for the most part feminine - of Mexican society.

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S1.E25 ∙ Prensa y poder

Wed, Dec 31, 1969

This program tells the story of the press in Mexico, working around the main theme of freedom of expression and its enemies. ''Press and Power' looks at the history of external censorship (by the government or by powerful men) as well as internal (autocensorship by the press) while also considering the persecution of journalists, the gradual development of a truly free press and future perspectives.

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S1.E26 ∙ Los teatros del pueblo

Wed, Dec 31, 1969

For decades, outdoor, tented theaters and popular stages which recreated variety shows, comedies and burlesque were a way to satirize society and the government 'under the nose' of censors. They also were an intimate form of popular entertainment. Many of its stars (such as Cantinflas and Pardavé) would go on to star on television and in the movies. This is a nostalgic and deep look at the world of popular theater.

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S1.E27 ∙ Nuestra capital hace medio siglo

Wed, Dec 31, 1969

In the movie theaters, ''The Forgotten'' by Luis Buñuel was being shown. In the dance halls, danzon and mambo were enjoyed by all. From the nation's Congress, the president was declaring war on Germany. This documentary narrates the most outstanding happenings from the political, social and cultural spheres that predominated in the life of Mexico City during the 1940's and 50's.

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