Time to Die

Arturo Ripstein's 1966 Mexican film follows a man returning to his town after eighteen years in prison. He had shot the man he killed in self-defence, but the story told in town is different and the dead man's two sons are waiting for him. The film uses the form of a western while arguing about the difference between honour and pride. The lead does not want to fight; the town expects it of him and makes stepping back impossible at every turn. Ripstein made this first film at twenty-two. The screenplay was written by Gabriel Garcia Marquez with Carlos Fuentes and was the first of Marquez's scripts to be filmed. The dialogue is literary and the scenes short. Who it's for: those who like Mexican cinema and the classical western form. Who it's not for: viewers expecting action; the film consists almost entirely of talk and waiting.