All the cultures of the world have their own celebrations to honor death. Some of them are represented in the cinema for the mass consumption of the population. We invite you to read this article about The book of life, so that you learn everything you need to know about this film and the tradition reflected in it.
Day of the Dead
Before we talk about how wonderful the movie The Book of Life is, we need to talk about one of its most important aspects: the background celebration to express its story. Although the Day of the Dead is not the main focus of the script, it is an important element to understand the story and the lessons it hopes to leave behind.
The Day of the Dead is a traditional Mexican celebration dedicated to honoring the dead. Celebrated in various parts of Latin America, this day falls on November 1 and 2. In the Catholic religion, these days are linked to the celebration of All Souls' Day and All Saints' Day.
The celebration encompasses several important traditions, some aspects of which may vary depending on the location. In 2008, UNESCO declared this holiday an Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity. If you'd like to learn more about the festivities, you can read the article on Norwegian Christmas traditions.
On the other hand, it has been recorded that its origins come from a pre-Columbian celebration. Although the anthropologist Elsa Malvido disputed this. She expressed that she believed that the celebration came from a medieval tradition that came to America after the arrival of the Spanish on the continent.
If you are interested in more articles like this, you can read Mayan Cities in the culture category.
The book of life
The book of life or The book of life (its original title) is an American and Mexican film, within the genre of romantic comedy and adventure, in a 3D format. Using the celebration of the Day of the Dead as inspiration, this film was computer animated and produced by Reel FX Animation Studios, was later distributed by 20th Century Fox.
It was co-written and directed by Jorge R Gutiérrez and featured the participation of Diego Luna, Zoe Saldaña, Channing Tatum, Christina Applegate, Ice Cube, Kate del Castillo and Ron Perlman. It was released on October 17, 2014 and that same year, it received a Golden Globe nomination for Best Animated Film.
Argument
The story begins with a group of five children who have been punished during their visit to the museum. The guide there, Mary Beth, shows them a secret room dedicated solely to Mexican folklore. Inside it, they find the "Book of Life" and Mary Beth decides to tell her the story that revolves around the book: the love triangle between three friends, Manolo, Joaquín and María.
The story tells that Catrina is the ruler of the Land of the Remembered and Xibalba is the king of the Land of the Forgotten. Both characters make an appearance at the Day of the Dead celebration in the town of San Ángel. There, they manage to observe the trio of friends playing. Xibalba proposes to Catrina a bet, each one would choose a boy as champion.
La Catrina accepts, as the bet required that if she won, Xibalba could no longer interfere in the man's affairs. However, if he won, they would exchange kingdoms. Manolo becomes La Catrina's champion. Xibalba chooses Joaquín, though she decides to cheat, as she gives him the Medal of Life, making him immortal and invincible. After an unfortunate event, María is sent to a convent in Spain, and Manolo gives her a baby pig, which he nicknames Chuy.
María returns the favor, giving him a new guitar that has the phrase engraved on it. "Always Play From The Heart" (always play from the heart). During the exchange, Joaquín realizes that he has nothing to give or receive. This little by little creates a resentment in his heart. Years go by and children grow up to become young adults. Manolo, who wanted to be a singer, is trained by his father to be a professional bullfighter. On the other hand, Joaquín is the hero of the city, saving the inhabitants from his misfortunes.
Reunion
The day María returns to the city, Manolo celebrates his first bullfight. However, he is unable to kill the animal when the time comes. He disappoints his father, but continues to receive support from his friend and lover. That night, while a grand party is taking place, María learns that she must marry Joaquín so that he can take care of the town and protect them from the bandit Chakal.
The young woman finds herself in conflict with herself, due to her feelings for Manolo and her duty to her people. Joaquín, on the other hand, does not help the situation, since he presents a macho attitude that annoys her. Maria herself retreats to her room where she is found by Manolo, where she sings him a serenade, which almost ends with a kiss.
The marriage proposal
Joaquín sees them and decides to propose to María in front of several witnesses. His plan is interrupted when bandits arrive in town for a showdown.
One of them realizes that Joaquín has the medal of life and runs out to tell Chakal, he had been looking for it for a long time.
After that conflict, María says yes to Joaquín but secretly meets with Manolo. Xibalba realizes this and, knowing she could lose the bet, sends a two-headed snake to ruin the encounter. María and Manolo meet on the outskirts of San Ángel and declare their love. Just when things seem to be going well, they are surprised by the snake, which bites María.
When Joaquín and General Posada find out what happened, they blame Manolo and make him do something crazy. In his pain, he decides to make a pact with Xibalba to reunite him with María, letting the snake bite him, this causes his death.
If you are interested in reading more articles like this one from the book of life, we invite you to read parts of the bible in the culture category
the journey
Manolo wakes up in the land of the remembered, where he sees several of his relatives and his mother, they guide him to the throne of the Catrina. However, they see how Xibalba had taken his throne and rule. He explains to them the bet he made with the Catrina and how the serpent had not killed Maria, but had made her sleep. Manolo, realizing the deception, decides to undertake the journey to the other kingdom to tell the Catrina everything that Xibalba did.
With the help of his deceased relatives, Manolo sets out on the road to the Cueva de las Almas, the only entrance to the land of the forgotten. This place is protected by a stone giant, who traps him with three giant stones. Manolo, despite being quite young, has impressive abilities, so he manages to evade the stones and faces his second challenge.
The giant judges him with a sword. Manolo, having a pure and worthy heart, overcomes the obstacle and continues on his way. He arrives at a cave, where he meets the Wax Man, a figure charged with maintaining the balance of the kingdoms, who is also the guardian of the Book of Life. The Wax Man can see how Manolo is writing his own life story instead of following the one already written. Because of his bravery, he decides to help him reclaim his life so he can join his beloved.
the cave of souls
Inside these caves, there are waterfalls that transport souls to the land of the forgotten, where the Catrina is found. Arriving there, she tells everyone about the traps and deceptions that Xibalba had done. Enraged, the Catrina summons him and demands that he bring Manolo back to life, since his death was not fair. Xibalba refuses to collaborate and instead proposes a new bet. If Manolo manages to beat all the bulls that his family has killed for generations, then he will come back. But if he loses, he will be forgotten forever.
At this point in the film, two events happen simultaneously: in the world of the living, Joaquín and María are about to get married, despite the obvious sadness that Manolo's death caused. A few minutes after saying yes, an inhabitant shouts, announcing the invasion of the bandit the Chakal, so they must stop and go to battle.
Meanwhile, in the world of the dead, the bulls, victims of his family, merge together to become one massive bull of great power.
Despite seeing himself in danger, Manolo refuses to fight and instead decides to play his guitar. He began by singing a beautiful song where he asks the bull for forgiveness for his unjust death at the hands of his family. The huge bull gives up and disappears, resting in peace. Due to his triumph, La Catrina, Xibalba and the man of wax come together to revive Manolo.
Fight with Chakal
The young man, seeing that he appears on the outskirts of the city, approaches the battle and decides to fight with the inhabitants of the town, defending his territory. Joaquin has his eternal life medal taken away, making him extremely weak. Manolo calls his deceased family to help them in the fight and he himself manages to stop the Chakal, however, both are in danger when a bell is about to fall.
Seeing that Joaquín could get hurt, Manolo pushes him and locks himself in the bell with Chakal, he lights a bomb looking for both of them to die in the explosion. In a heroic twist, Manolo escapes unharmed since Joaquín had put the medal of life on him. María and Manolo end up declaring their love and then getting married.
La Catrina and Xibalba forgive each other and decide to kiss each other at the top of the bell tower. In the final scene, you can see how the guide says goodbye to the children and transforms into Catrina, together with her beloved Xibalba. The wax man leaves an important message, declaring that only we write our own destiny.
You can read more original articles like this on our blog. In fact, we recommend you read What is holiness? in the culture category.
Coco and the Book of Life
The Book of Life, released in 2014, is not the first film depiction of the Day of the Dead. In fact, there are several animated short films that explore this holiday. However, The Book of Life is a highly produced film despite its small box office, making it a target for criticism.
For 2017, Pixar, an animated movie mogul, released the movie “Coco”. A beautiful family story that talked about the traditions of the day of the dead and what happens during the holiday. Despite being totally different stories, many people feel that these stories need to be compared to find a winner.
The reality is, it's impossible to compare them. There are several superficial similarities, such as the fact that both films have a supernatural element. They both revolve around a specific holiday, and the protagonist is a male character who wants to pursue a career in music. Despite this, the similarities between these two animations don't provide a good basis for comparison.
Coco tells the story of Miguel, a boy who loves to sing, but despite his talent, his family opposes him because the patriarch abandoned them to follow his dreams. Manolo, the protagonist of the book of life, is a boy who loves music but grows up to become a bullfighter like his father. It's important to emphasize that music is a key element in the Day of the Dead festivities.
Two stories, an outcome and a single tradition
On the other hand, the fact that both films use the same holiday may lead viewers to believe that they are similar films. Saying that Coco is a copy of the book of life is like saying that all Christmas movies are plagiarism or that all love movies are copies of each other.
Both films have great importance for Mexicans and all people who celebrate the Day of the Dead, since they are two different points of view. While Coco uses this holiday as an important part of his story, the book of life uses it as a secondary element that gradually gained presence near the end.
With colorful tones and upbeat music, these movies leave important messages, plus they're perfect for family viewing and having a good time. If you want to read more articles like this, we invite you to read What does the cross mean? in the Culture category.
movie trivia
All movies, regardless of their genre, have impressive curiosities that viewers may not be able to appreciate at first glance. Therefore, now we will tell you 7 curious facts from the movie the book of life.
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Empowered women.
If there's one thing Mexico has in abundance, it's empowered women, and that's something the film successfully portrays. All the female characters were designed by the film's director, Sandra Equihua, who originally intended them to be damsels in distress. Gutiérrez discarded this idea and created strong, independent, and empowered characters, alluding to the image of Mexican women.
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The name change.
When the film was still under construction, it was expected that it would be produced by Dreamworks; its name, at that time, was “the book of death”, however, all this changed when the film changed producers and 20th Century Fox acquired all the rights, from there, the name was changed to the current one.
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It is a controversial film.
Although its main messages were always friendship, loyalty and love, the film managed to convey a fairly clear message, the anti-bullfighting one. The main protagonist, Manolo Sánchez, is a young man who comes from a long family of bullfighters. However, he does not wish to follow family traditions as it is impossible for him to kill an animal that has not done him any harm.
The film is controversial because, since 2011, several areas of Mexico have declared bullfighting an intangible cultural heritage, which creates conflict with various messages from animal protection groups. If you'd like to explore more about the evolution of the films, you can read about the first film in history.
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It was based on the myth of Orpheus.
In Greek mythology, there is the myth of Orpheus, which tells of a young son of Apollo and a muse. Orpheus had incredible musical gifts; playing the lyre, he managed to calm even the most ferocious beast and make it fall at his feet. It is this gift, in fact, that helped him win the love of Eurydice, a beautiful young woman.
Unfortunately, she dies while they were out for a walk from a snake bite. Desperate and depressed, Orpheus decides to descend to the underworld to rescue her. Using his lyre, he manages to reach Hades and Persephone, where he asks them to allow him to take his beloved; they agree on the condition that he not see her until he returns to the world of the living.
Orpheus almost succeeded in his mission, however, his desire was so great that upon reaching the surface, he turned to look at his beloved, who, with one foot on the path to the underworld, vanished before his eyes. The Book of Life uses the story of this classic myth and blends it with Mexican traditions, creating an incredible combination.
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The presence of Diego Rivera.
Because the Book of Life movie has a strong Day of the Dead theme, it's impossible to imagine it without the presence of a catrina. The catrina is a very famous and popular Mexican character.
Diego Rivera was the one who transformed "La Calavera Gabardina" into La Catrina. He did so by creating a skull-like lady who belonged to the Mexican aristocracy in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. It was this representation that was later used to create the character we see in the film.
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The seal of Santaolalla.
Gustavo Santaolalla is an Argentine composer who has won numerous awards for his songs and collaborations with various films. In 2006, he won an Academy Award for Best Original Score for Brokeback Mountain and in 2007 he won another award for the film Babel, in the same category.
The soundtrack of the Book of Life has an important seal of this artist, not only introducing classic and popular songs such as “Can't help Falling in love with you” y “Just a friend”He also created unique songs to create a perfect soundtrack. Essentially, it's believed that a film's soundtrack can help it succeed, and that can be seen in the musical atmosphere created in this specific film.
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A trilogy.
Although it hasn't happened yet, it was confirmed in the summer of 2017 that the film The Book of Life would have a sequel, that is, a second chapter that would focus on Joaquín's life story. Director Jorge Gutiérrez expressed that he always believed The Book of Life was created to be a trilogy, with the second part focusing on Joaquín and the third on María, exploring the different traits and stories of these characters.
Without a doubt, The Book of Life is a perfect family movie; it's lighthearted, entertaining, and wonderful. It contains a story that appeals not only to the little ones in the house, but also to adults. They come to understand the complicated nuances of life and death.
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