Macario is a 1960 film from Mexico, directed by Roberto Gavaldon.
It is an adaptation of a novel by B. Traven.note The book and film were loose adaptations of a fairy tale called "Godfather Death" that dates back at least as far as Grimm's Fairy Tales. In the film, Macario is a peasant at some indefinite time during the period that Mexico was part of the Spanish Empire. He chops trees for firewood to sell in the village, while his wife takes in laundry. With that meager income they are supporting themselves and four children.
It's the Day of the Dead, and Macario and his family have put out the traditional offerings for their departed ancestors. While in town, Macario sees that the bakery is preparing six roast turkeys that will be set out as offerings for the departed ancestors of Don Rosario, the local lord. Something in Macario seems to snap. He tells his wife that he can't take his life of grinding poverty and constant hunger anymore, that in fact he won't ever eat again, unless he can get what he really wants: a whole turkey, that he can eat all by himself, eat until he's full.
So his wife steals one of Don Rosario's turkeys. She slaughters it, roasts it, and gives it to her husband, telling him to go off into the forest and eat it. So he goes into the forest. There he meets a strange man, clad in a fancy black bullfighter costume, who offers him gold and riches for a piece of the turkey—it's Satan. Macario refuses, saying that if he threw the devil's gold around he'd be hanged as a thief. Then he sees an old man in simple robes who asks for a piece of the turkey because Macario should be willing to share—it's God. Macario refuses again, saying that if God wants a turkey he can get his own.
Then a third man appears, saying that he's very hungry, that he hasn't eaten for hundreds of years. It's Death (Enrique Lucero). Macario this time willingly shares half of his turkey, and after he does, Death gives him a very unusual gift...
Tropes:
- Adaptation Expansion: The story as told by B. Traven lacks the introductory sequence showing the excesses of the wealthy during Day of the Dead which makes up the first 15 minutes or so of the film.
- All Are Equal in Death: So Death tells Macario, showing him the candle of the viceroy's child, and Macario's own candle, and noting that all are equal and when things like wars or plagues come, candles of all sorts are snuffed out.
- All Just a Dream: It seems that everything after Macario got into the forest was his dying dream. The film ends with a postscript showing a search party led by Macario's wife, finding him dead in the woods, next to a half-eaten turkey.
- Bindle Stick: God appears dressed as a wandering traveler or beggar, complete with bindle stick.
- Burn the Witch!: Discussed Trope, as the ecclesiastical court will burn Macario at the stake if they decide he's got healing powers, as that must mean he's a witch. (If they decide instead that he's only a con artist, he will get off with "only" having his tongue cut out.)
- Catapult Nightmare: Macario has a nightmare in which he is a puppet master making skeleton puppets have a party. After he starts awake, he makes his "never eat again" vow.
- Circling Vultures: Some carrion birds circle over the Macario family hut as Macario's wife struggles to hide the turkey she stole.
- Cold-Blooded Torture: Some folks are being brutally tortured on the rack and on the wheel in the dungeons underneath the courthouse, but Macario escapes this particular fate.
- Color-Coded for Your Convenience: Satan appears in a snazzy outfit that is either what a bullfighter would wear or what Zorro would wear without the mask. It's all black, minus the gold braid and the gold buttons that he offers to Macario. God appears as a poor traveler in ragged robes that are either gray or white (it's a black and white movie).
- Deal with the Devil: Rejected. Satan offers Macario gold and riches in exchange for some of his turkey, but Macario refuses him.
- Death's Hourglass: All the candles in death's cave, which represent living humans. Macario is unpleasantly shocked to see that the viceroy's son's candle is very short.
- Dying Candle: Death has a cave in which he keeps a whole host of candles, each one representing a human life. When the candle goes out, the person dies.
- Foreshadowing: Macario's kids are shown playing dangerously close to a communal well. Sure enough, one of them later falls in, and Macario demonstrates his healing powers when he uses the magic water to bring his boy back to life.
- For the Evulz: The soldiers sent by the inquisitorial squad are goons that smash the hell out of Macario's house for the thrill of it. When one moves to smash open Macario's medicine cabinet, Macario's wife shows him a key and says she'll open it. The soldier snarls that they don't need keys, and smashes it anyway.
- God and Satan Are Both Jerks: Satan tries to trick Macario into taking piles of gold for a piece of the turkey; Macario refuses because this will get him hanged. God says that Macario should hand over some of his turkey just because; Macario refuses on the logical grounds that God is God and can get his own turkey.
- The Grim Reaper: All in all, he's nicer than God or Satan, who seem to just want to jerk Macario around. Macario shares his turkey with Death because, as Macario explains, once he saw Death he figured his number was up and wanted to stall for long enough to eat. Death laughs at this and gives Macario the Healing Potion.
- Healing Potion: In return for sharing the turkey, Death fills Macario's gourd with magic water. Administration of the magic water will cure anyone who's sick, unless they are marked to die, in which case the water won't work. Death signals this by appearing at the sickbeds when Macario arrives with his water. If Death appears at the foot of the sickbed, Macario can give the patient his water and the patient will be healed. If Death appears at the head of the sickbed, the patient will die and there's nothing Macario can do.
- I Have a Family: Macario begs Death, mentioning his wife and children, when he sees his candle amongst all the candles in Death's cave. Death says sorry, but when it's time, it's time.
- No Name Given: Macario's wife, despite having quite a bit of dialogue and a lot to do, is never addressed by name.
- Puppet Shows: Macario has a creepy dream in which he is a puppet master dangling day-of-the-dead skeleton puppets, who drink and debauch.
- Time-Passes Montage: A montage shows Macario becoming a healer, with a thriving business that sees a parade of patients. The town doctor, who has a business next door, grows steadily angrier.
- You Can't Fight Fate: You can't fight death anyway, or at least that's Death's message to Macario. Your candle is only so long, and when it's time to die, that's it.
