And Now Miguel
(1953, U.S.), United States Information Service 62 minutes
With: the Chavez family
Plot Outline: The Chavez family are shepherds in the Santa DeCristo mountains in New Mexico. The older brothers Gabriel, Placito and Pedro all help the father, while youngsters Miguel and Falstina do what they can to help. Miguel in particular loves all the animals, and eventually earns his place as the newest member of the long line of Chavez shepherds.
***
AND NOW NIGUEL is an exciting and evocative drama showing a way of
life primitive and long-gone (?). Filmed in Las Cordovas, New Mexico,
we observe the Chavezes, a family of shepherds living deep in the
heart of the Santa DeCristo mountains.
The gorgeous film is shot silent, with some images worthy of Robert J. Flaherty or Pare Lorentz. The film is narrated by young Miguel, accompanied by animal sounds and a lovely music score, featuring some winsome Spanish guitar riffs. Scenes of nature and wildlife are shot with stunning clarity, and chronicle a setting and lifestyle which are both endangered.
Miguel is a kindly, sympathetic character, fully in touch with nature
and the animals and his mission in life as caretaker of both. He is a
very spiritual soul, simple in the best sense, surely the kind of
thoughtful child who would grow up to be a good and caring man.
Not incidentally, MIGUEL is a fascinating catalog of time-honored
shepherd rituals: sheep-shearing; the birth of a new sheep; sheep
being numbered like race cars for easy identification; the forced
suckling of a recalcitrant babe; applying the fleece of a dead lamb to
an orphan lamb in order to trick the grieving mother that her "kid"
has come back to life; finding lost sheep in raging storms.
One striking sequence features the Chavezes attending a festival for
San Ysidro, the patron saint of shepherds, including a creepy
nighttime ritual, with the torch-bearing faithful chanting and
praying.
Eventually, big brother Gabriel goes off to become a soldier, so
Miguel becomes the newest "pastore" in a long line. Oddly, this "rites
of manhood" angle is the only one which doesn't work terribly well, as
it is unclear exactly what trial makes Miguel a man, other than just
making it up the mountain twixt his straying flock.
Filmmaker Joseph Krumgold apparently got his start as a cameraman for
the U.S. Army. His training film BIOGRAPHY OF A JEEP is considered a
classic of the military-film genre.
It is obvious that the Krumgolds used the 1937 docu-drama ADVENTURES
OF CHICO, filmed by the Woodwards, as their blueprint for their new
film. The similarities are many and striking. Still, AND NOW MIGUEL is
a powerful, exciting adventure, certainly one of the great American
documentaries.
Video/DVD availability: VHS (Nostalgia Family Video, Video Yesteryear, oop)
Camera: Kenneth Marthey
Assistant Camera: Richard Kent
Production Manager: George Feldsher
Continuity: Helen Krumgold
Musical Director: Jack Shaindlin
Music Composer: Louis Applebaum
Produced and directed by Joseph Krumgold
