Guillermo Arriaga's novel of the same title, served as the basis for this co-production about rural Mexican life. Mr. Arriaga supposedly disassociated himself from the production, which seemed the only thing to do. Edna Necoechea, the screen adapter, doesn't succeed in translating Mr. Arriaga's text into a successful movie. It doesn't help the misguided production insisted in casting non-Mexican actors for some of the key roles.
The film deals with the tragic death of Adela, a lovely young woman, who we see at the beginning of the story as she comes to shop at the store where Ramon works. Ramon, who liked the girl, never has a chance to tell Adela how he feels about her because the next morning she appears dead in a field nearby.
The action is complicated when most of the men in town want Ramon to avenge the girl of the young woman they thought was his girlfriend, when he wasn't even involved with Adela. This conflict is the center of the story as the men have decided it was Gitano who committed the murder, which was wrong.
The film has some moments, but in general, director Gabriel Retes, doesn't succeed. Hector Alterio, who plays the sheriff, is from Argentina. He is a wonderful actor, but here, he is out of his element. Same goes for Karra Ejalde, a Spaniard, who also appears to be wrong as the man everyone has condemned to die. Diego Luna has some good moments in the film.
Talk about product placement, Corona beer, is seen in most scenes as the beer of choice, as it's shown prominently throughout the film. Let's hope the actors were really drinking those cool beers while acting.
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