The Dance of the Forty-One movie review by Steven Skelley
El Baile de los 41 or The Dance of the Forty-One is a deeply moving film based on a major homosexuality scandal in Mexico City in the year 1901. I highly recommend it.
Gays of my age and older, personally remember when just being a homosexual was illegal and dangerous. It was just twenty-two years ago that the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that being gay, in itself, was not a crime (Lawrence v. Texas). It wasn't until 2005 that Puerto Rico repealed its homosexuality laws. Prior to that, being gay in the U.S.A. was illegal in every state with punishments including life imprisonment, hard labor and even execution. We remember.
The Dance of the Forty-One is a brilliant movie that explores a pivotal point in Mexican history. Forever after, the number 41 would be associated negatively with homosexuals.
The year is 1901. The place is Mexico City. President of Mexico Porfirio Diaz is looking forward to grandchildren being born to his daughter Amada and her handsome Congressman husband Ignacio de la Torre y Mier. What the President and his daughter Amada don't know is that Ignacio is struggling with his sexuality. His career and his marriage depend on him fitting in as a loving heterosexual husband and hopefully a father to the President's grandchildren – but – his heart secretly belongs to his gay lover Evaristo Rivas, a lawyer whom he affectionately calls Eva.
Ignacio is a member of a secret society of gay men that meet in a private home. It is a place where they can honestly be their true selves safely and fully. There is dancing, billiards, stage productions, drinking, smoking, flirting, laughing and lovemaking. Ignacio and Eva fall in love there. Only members are allowed in the secret society – the safety and very lives of these gay men depend upon it.
As Ignacio spends more and more time away from home with Eva at the club, his wife Amada is at first confused, then depressed and finally angry and vengeful. She searches Ignacio's office and finds love letters from Eva.
What happens is Mexican history. As the secret gay society hold its biggest event of the year, it is raided by the police. All forty-two members are arrested including Ignacio and Eva. Ignacio is protected to avoid a Presidential scandal but the other members are brutalized publicly and then either sent to hard labor and sure death in the Yucatan or drafted into the army against their will – another sure death sentence.
Mabel Cadena brilliantly portrays Amada as she evolves from innocent, virginal idealist to revenge seeking black heart. Alfonso Herrera's Ignacio closes the film with a heart-rending moment that many of us can easily imagine or have felt ourselves. Yes, I had a tear in my eye.
Alfonso Herrera won the ARIEL AWARD for Best Actor and the film won ARIEL AWARDS for Best Costume Design, Best Art Direction and Best Makeup.
The Dance of the Forty-One is currently available on NETFLIX.
The Dance of the Forty-One movie review by Steven Skelley.
Copyright 2025 Steven Skelley
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