settima

poverty

Macario (Roberto Gavaldón, 1960)

Jan

22

National Poverty in America Awareness Month

Macario (1960)

Macario (Ignacio López Tarso) passes a Día de los Muertos altar, stacked high with candles, human skulls and bones, and cempasúchil (marigolds), whose fragrant and colour lead the Dead back to their family on this revered day. DP: Gabriel Figueroa.

Poverty (National Poverty in America Awareness Month).

 

Macario, poor and hungry, wishes to eat a whole turkey all by himself on Día de los Muertos. When he finally has the opportunity, he is interrupted three times: by the Devil, by God, and by Death. With one of them, he shares his meal.

Tire dié [Toss Me a Dime] (Fernando Birri, 1958)

Jun

20

National Flag Day – Argentina

Tire dié (1958)

A young boy running along the train. Another, even younger, child can be just seen behind him. DPs: Oscar Kopp & Enrique Urteaga.

A slum survives next to a railroad bridge. When the train travelling from the city shows up, the children who are old and gutsy enough run along and yell tire dié! toss me a dime! Some of them make more than their parents do.

“Tire dié!”

Tire dié is a sobering account of #poverty and how it's as much a part of life's schedule as a slow running train on a rickety bridge.