''Two Monks'' (Spanish: ''Dos monjes'') is a 1934 Mexican

expressionist Expressionism is a modernist movement, initially in poetry and painting, originating in Northern Europe around the beginning of the 20th century. Its typical trait is to present the world solely from a subjective perspective, distorting it rad ...

melodrama A modern melodrama is a dramatic work in which the plot, typically sensationalized and for a strong emotional appeal, takes precedence over detailed characterization. Melodramas typically concentrate on dialogue that is often bombastic or exces ...

film directed by

Juan Bustillo Oro Juan Bustillo Oro (2 June 1904 – 10 June 1989) was a Mexican film director, screenwriter and producer, whose career spanned over 38 years. Among his works there are '' In the Times of Don Porfirio'', '' Here's the Point'', '' Arm in Arm Down t ...

and starring

Víctor Urruchúa Víctor Urruchúa (30 December 1912 – 1981) was a Mexican actor, film director and screenwriter. He appeared in 24 films between 1926 and 1951. He also directed 15 films between 1944 and 1953. Selected filmography * '' Two Monks'' (1934 ...

and

Carlos Villatoro Carlos Humberto Villatoro Escobedo, known as Carlos Villatoro (14 January 1903 – 14 March 1963) was a Mexican screenwriter and film actor.Riera, p. 220 Selected filmography * ''Dos Monjes'' (1934) * '' Dreams of Love'' (1935) * ''Luponini ...

Production

Filmed in

black-and-white Black-and-white (B&W or B/W) images combine black and white in a continuous spectrum, producing a range of shades of grey. Media The history of various visual media began with black and white, and as technology improved, altered to color. ...

on 35 mm

Academy ratio The Academy ratio of 1.375:1 (abbreviated as 1.37:1) is an aspect ratio of a frame of 35 mm film when used with 4-perf pulldown.Monaco, James. ''How to Read a Film: The Art, Technology, Language, History and Theory of Film and Media''. Rev. ...

film.

Plot

In a

Gothic Gothic or Gothics may refer to: People and languages *Goths or Gothic people, the ethnonym of a group of East Germanic tribes **Gothic language, an extinct East Germanic language spoken by the Goths **Crimean Gothic, the Gothic language spoken b ...

monastery A monastery is a building or complex of buildings comprising the domestic quarters and workplaces of monastics, monks or nuns, whether living in communities or alone (hermits). A monastery generally includes a place reserved for prayer which ...

, an ailing

monk A monk (, from el, μοναχός, ''monachos'', "single, solitary" via Latin ) is a person who practices religious asceticism by monastic living, either alone or with any number of other monks. A monk may be a person who decides to dedica ...

, Brother Javier, has been acting out with violent emotions. The prior, fearing that he might be possessed by evil spirits, asks a new monk, Brother Juan, to tend to him. When Juan enters Javier's cell, the two recognize each other, and Juan runs out, followed by Javier, who strikes him with a

crucifix A crucifix (from Latin ''cruci fixus'' meaning "(one) fixed to a cross") is a cross with an image of Jesus on it, as distinct from a bare cross. The representation of Jesus himself on the cross is referred to in English as the ''corpus'' (Lati ...

and retreats back to his cell. Questioned by the prior, Javier reveals that he and Juan had once been best friends but that Juan had betrayed him. He then relates this story through a flashback. Some time before, Javier is a consumptive composer working on a song. Ana, a young woman who lives in the next house, sings along with him but is forced away from the window by her parents. When a prospective suitor calls on Ana, Javier is pleased to see that she has driven him away, but she is cast out by her parents. Javier and his mother take Ana in, and Javier eventually proposes marriage. Javier is happy to see his friend Juan return from a long voyage, but as the two friends and Ana spend time together, Juan seems attracted to Ana while Javier's illness becomes more severe. Apparently recovering, Juan is surprised when Javier tells him that he must go away again and asks Javier one evening to help his lawyer review some business matters. Feeling ill, Javier returns to home early only to find Ana pushing herself away from Juan's embrace. Javier strikes Juan, who pulls out a pistol. When Juan shoots, though, Ana rushes between the two men and is killed. In his monastery cell, Javier concludes his story and asks the prior for

absolution Absolution is a traditional theological term for the forgiveness imparted by ordained Christian priests and experienced by Christian penitents. It is a universal feature of the historic churches of Christendom, although the theology and the pra ...

. The prior, though, tells Javier that he must seek it from Juan. Juan also confesses and relates his version of the events described by Juan. He reveals that he and Ana had been in love before she met Javier, but the two were forced to part. Ana is still in love with Juan, but she feels obligated to marry Javier in gratitude for his support of her. When Javier becomes gravely ill, Ana believes that a marriage to him will be a short one, but Javier's apparent recovery leads Juan to plan to go far away from Ana. Sending Javier to his lawyer's office, Juan uses the occasion to see Ana one last time, but he is overcome by his emotions and tries to kiss her. Just then Javier returns, and in Juan's version of the story, it is Javier who accidentally shoots and kills Ana. Javier, now gravely ill and mentally overcome, runs out of his cell to the monastery's pipe organ, where he plays a

dissonant In music, consonance and dissonance are categorizations of simultaneous or successive Sound, sounds. Within the Western tradition, some listeners associate consonance with sweetness, pleasantness, and acceptability, and dissonance with harshness ...

version of the song he had earlier been composing. Turning around, he sees the prior and other monks gathered and envisions them as primitive grosteque figures about to attack him, and he collapses. Juan rushes to him and holds his former friend as Javier dies. The last image is of a cross above the door, suggesting some redemption.

Cast

as Juan *

as Javier *Magda Haller as Ana *Beltrán de Heredia as Prior *Emma Roldán as Gertrudis

Reception

In 2020 ''Two Monks'' was added to the

Criterion Collection The Criterion Collection, Inc. (or simply Criterion) is an American home-video distribution company that focuses on licensing, restoring and distributing "important classic and contemporary films." Criterion serves film and media scholars, cinep ...

, spine #1048. Its visual style was compared to

German Expressionism German Expressionism () consisted of several related creative movements in Germany before the First World War that reached a peak in Berlin during the 1920s. These developments were part of a larger Expressionist movement in north and central ...

by Criterion, who praised it as "vividly stylized, broodingly intense." Charles Ramírez Berg called it an "

existential Existentialism ( ) is a form of philosophical inquiry that explores the problem of human existence and centers on human thinking, feeling, and acting. Existentialist thinkers frequently explore issues related to the meaning, purpose, and value ...

mystery ��a brooding meditation on why things happened the way they did and an inconclusive inquiry into whether they could have happened some other way." The use of flashbacks giving contradictory accounts of the same event has been compared to ''

Rashomon is a 1950 Jidaigeki psychological thriller/crime film directed and written by Akira Kurosawa, working in close collaboration with cinematographer Kazuo Miyagawa. Starring Toshiro Mifune, Machiko Kyō, Masayuki Mori (actor), Masayuki Mori, and ...

'' (1950), which ''Two Monks'' preceded by 16 years. On the other hand, Carl J. Mora dismissed it as a "timid experiment" in his ''Mexican Films: A General History, 1896-1976'' (1981).

References

External links

* * *{{Rotten Tomatoes, m/two_monks
''Dos monjes: Expressionism a la Mexicana''
an essay by Elisa Lozano at the

1934 drama films Mexican horror drama films 1930s Spanish-language films Films directed by Juan Bustillo Oro