Tear This Heart Out

Tear This Heart Out (2008) is adapted from Ángeles Mastretta's novel and was the most expensive Mexican film made up to that point. Puebla, the 1930s. Fifteen year old Catalina is married off to Andrés Ascencio, a general much older than her. He rises: first governor, then minister. She rises with him, and at a certain point understands exactly what her husband does. What makes the film interesting is that it refuses to draw Catalina as a victim. She uses what her position gives her, conducts her own affairs, and makes her own calculations. This is precisely why the novel was argued about in Mexico: the narrator is neither innocent nor guiltless. How post revolutionary Mexican politics actually worked is not background but the subject. Generals turning into politicians, opposition disappearing, and all of it seen from inside a house. With a budget of around seven million dollars it set a record and became one of the highest grossing Mexican films. It was Mexico's official submission for the 2009 Foreign Language Film Oscar. Daniel Giménez Cacho plays the general and makes him magnetic without making him likeable, which is the hardest job in the film. It runs 107 minutes. Good for: Mexican cinema, period drama, and literary adaptation. Less good for: it contains political murder and the subjugation of women. Readers of the book will find many sections compressed.