Victims of Sin
Criterion Collection (2024)
Art Direction / Eric Skillman
Directed by the legendary Emilio Fernández and starring Cuban dancer-actor sensation Ninón Sevilla, Victims of Sin (1951) is a hallmark of the golden age of Mexican cinema and one of the very best examples of the cabaretera film, an offshoot of the popular “prostitute melodrama” genre set in cabarets and involving elaborate music and dance sequences. These films often spotlight the Afro-Cuban dance called the rumba, and a rumbera, a female protagonist and figure of escapist fantasy who exhibits her liberation through her sexuality and uninhibited dancing. But unlike other cabareteras from this period, Victims of Sin provides a twist: the film does not punish the rumbera. This unconventional narrative, on top of its extraordinary star power and musical and dance performances, has put Victims of Sin in a class of its own.
- Jacqueline Avila
