''La Madre María'' is a 1974
Argentine drama film
In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. Drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular super ...
directed by
Lucas Demare
Lucas Demare (July 14, 1910 – September 6, 1981) was an Argentine film director, screenwriter, and film producer prominent in the Cinema of Argentina in the 1940s, 1950s and 1960s.
Biography
At the 1943 Argentine Film Critics Association Aw ...
.
Plot
La Madre María is based on the life of María Salomé Loredo, a renowned Argentina
faith healer (1854-1928). The film begins with an old Madre Maria on trial for quackery and deceit. On a series of flashbacks, her life is told, starting with a visit María paid to another famous Argentina faith healer, Pancho Sierra.
Pancho Sierra instructs Madre María to continue his work by helping the poor and praying with the sick. After her husband's death, Madre María establishes a mission or co-op in La Rioja Street in Buenos Aires. She teaches women how to sew, delivers food to the hungry, pays the debts of the poor. She prays with the sick and teaches a simple gospel of faith in God.
After the medical establishment begins to use the police and the judicial system to stop her work, María is exiled in Turdera, near Buenos Aires, where she starts her work among the poor and the sick one more time. She starts an orphanage and defends the workers from police brutality.
Maria's defense prevails in the trial, and a cheering crowd receives her in her home, but she faints and shortly after dies. The final scene shows a solemn funeral procession taking María's casket to the cemetery.
Cast
*
Tita Merello
Laura Ana "Tita" Merello (11 October 1904 – 24 December 2002) was an Argentine film actress, tango dancer and singer of the Golden Age of Argentine Cinema (1940–1960). In her 6 decades in Argentine entertainment, at the time of her death, s ...
as Madre María
* José Slavin
*
Hugo Arana
*
Patricia Castell
* María José Demare
*
Alejandra Da Passano
María Alejandra Ana Da Passano (26 July 1947 – 30 June 2014), better known as Alejandra Da Passano, was an Argentine actress of film, stage and television. Her best known films were ''El Señor Presidente'' (1970), '' Malevo'' (1972), an ...
* Adrian Ghio
* Tina Serrano
* Fernando Labat
* Bernardo Perrone
* Adriana Parets
* Cristina Murta
*
Carlos Muñoz
* Marta Gam
* Diana Ingro
* Horacio Nicolai
* Héctor Gance
*
Rey Charol
* Sara Bonet
* Marcelo José
* Inés Murray
* Rogelio Romano
See also
*
Faith healing
Faith healing is the practice of prayer and gestures (such as laying on of hands) that are believed by some to elicit divine intervention in spiritual and physical healing, especially the Christian practice. Believers assert that the healing ...
External links
*
1974 films
Argentine drama films
1970s Spanish-language films
Films directed by Lucas Demare
1970s Argentine films
Films about faith healing
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