Review of Pueblo en vilo (1995) by Edgar C — 18 Jan 2013

In 1968, Mexican historian Luis González wrote a book detailing the most intimate aspects of a rather unknown rural town called San José, which title had the words "Historia Universal". Given the high attention to detail present in the book, it was subject to criticisms because it held a contradiction between the focus of Luis' book and the word "Universal". Afterwards, the book won a number of international history awards.

This documentary visits San José de Gracia and interviews the people that participated in the main events of the book while orchestrating the simultaneous, major events that were happening in Mexico's capital during the Mexican Revolution in the beginning of the 20th Century, following the book's tradition and style closely.

The importance of this entire work resides in the ability of the writer not only to drive our attention and reflection to micro-history, rather than focusing only on the major events that shaped the history of a nation. Both processes are complimentary, but it is the individual, and not an abstract term called "nation" or "geographical region" that determines our present or drives our future to an alternate path.

80/100.