{"id":39193,"date":"2023-03-17T09:00:07","date_gmt":"2023-03-17T13:00:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/?p=39193"},"modified":"2023-03-15T19:19:27","modified_gmt":"2023-03-15T23:19:27","slug":"the-bootleg-files-agueda-martinez-our-people-our-country","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/2023\/03\/17\/the-bootleg-files-agueda-martinez-our-people-our-country\/","title":{"rendered":"The Bootleg Files – Agueda Martinez: Our People, Our Country"},"content":{"rendered":"

BOOTLEG FILES 825: <\/strong>\u201cAgueda Martinez: Our People, Our Country\u201d (1977 Oscar-nominated documentary short). <\/p>\n

LAST SEEN:<\/strong> On YouTube. <\/p>\n

AMERICAN HOME VIDEO:<\/strong> None.<\/p>\n

REASON FOR BOOTLEG STATUS:<\/strong> It fell through the proverbial cracks.
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\nCHANCES OF SEEING A COMMERCIAL DVD RELEASE:<\/strong> Not likely. <\/p>\n

For many years, the films nominated in the Academy Award categories for short subjects were the most mysterious titles in the annual Oscar ceremonies. Between the evaporation of the theatrical shorts market in the early 1960s and the relatively recent dawning of the streaming era, these films were unknown and inaccessible to the vast majority of movie lovers.
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Some of these Oscar-nominated works have found their way to the Internet, in both authorized and unauthorized postings. A fine example of the latter is the 1977 \u201cAgueda Martinez: Our People, Our Country,\u201d which was nominated for the Best Documentary Short Award. While it did not win Hollywood\u2019s grand prize, the nomination helped save it from the obscurity that befalls too many wonderful documentary shorts \u2013 and we should thank the Academy for this, because this is one of the most interesting works of this genre.<\/p>\n

Agueda Salazar Martinez was a New Mexican artist who found fame in her sixties as the weaver of rugs and blankets. Her work won several awards and became part of the collections of the Smithsonian Institution and the Museum of International Folk Art. At the age of 76, Martinez was approached by director Esperanza V\u00e1squez and producer Moctesuma Esparza to become the subject of a documentary.<\/p>\n

The resulting film \u201cAgueda Martinez: Our People, Our Country\u201d is fascinating because it does not focus on Martinez\u2019s achievements as a weaver. Indeed, the viewer does not get to see her weave until relatively late in the film. Instead, the film highlights her daily life on the ranch in Mendales, New Mexico, where she lived for most of her life. Martinez describes her world for the viewer in a narration that runs throughout the film. <\/p>\n

Actually, there are two versions of \u201cAgueda Martinez: Our People, Our Country.\u201d Because Martinez\u2019s preferred language was Spanish, actress Carmen Zapata provides a translated voiceover in the film released for English-speaking audiences; Martinez provides her own narration in the release seen by Spanish-speaking audiences. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt was always a good life here in New Mexico,\u201d says Martinez in the film\u2019s opening. \u201cI come from a people who are very old. I have Navajo grandparents on both sides.\u201d <\/p>\n

This opening is critical to Martinez\u2019s story \u2013 she is not a woman who embraces modernity. Indeed, she is first seen sweeping away dust with a broom made from branches, gathering her water from a bucket brought up from a well and picking up a considerable amount of firewood to fuel her wood-burning stove \u2013 she later notes that she is the one who chops the wood. She also remarks that she makes her own clothing, and a few seconds where she models a fancy hat of her own creation offers evidence that a sense of playfulness lies beneath her serious focus. <\/p>\n

A brief glimpse of old photographs is accompanied by Martinez recalling how she married at 18, adding that her husband \u201cwas crippled and could not work much.\u201d Due to those circumstances, she learned to weave to support her family, adding that her grandparents were weavers. <\/p>\n

In the course of the film, Martinez goes through her day in a casual but focused manner. She is shown harvesting the crops from her property\u2019s farmland, gathering herbs for medicinal purposes and cooking on her wood-burning stove \u2013 she insists the food tastes better when prepared on that type of appliance. Some of her great-grandchildren happily join her in the gathering of fruits and chiles, but Martinez also laments over the hypnotic effect that television has on children while stating that she prefers \u201cto talk and to be with people\u201d rather than watching life telescoped through a screen.<\/p>\n

Martinez also finds herself adrift from the younger members of her clan through her devotion to churchgoing. Wearing a white mantilla, she solemnly attends a service in a sparsely populated church while the narration complains about how younger people rarely spend their Sundays in this setting.<\/p>\n

Martinez\u2019s adherence to the past extends to her bathroom \u2013 there is no indoor plumbing in her home, and she needs to use an outhouse. Her aversion to indoor plumbing is because \u201cif everything was inside, I wouldn\u2019t go outside. I wouldn\u2019t feel the vigor and the cleansing of winter.\u201d She then wonders: \u201cHow couldn\u2019t the life we had before be better than what we have nowadays? I still have the beliefs of my parents in everything.\u201d<\/p>\n

It is not until the last five minutes of this 16-minute film that Martinez is seen weaving. In her weaving, she allows for the contemporary world to seep into her realm \u2013 she admits using \u201csome commercial tints\u201d to color her designs. She explains that she doesn\u2019t keep any of her work, but instead sells it in order to support herself. During the winter, she spends the entire day weaving, often going nonstop until midnight.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t get tired,\u201d she declares. \u201cWork doesn\u2019t tire me. I\u2019ll stop weaving when I can\u2019t move anymore. Until then, you\u2019ll find me dancing on the loom.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAgueda Martinez: Our People, Our Country\u201d is a distinctive celebration of a remarkable woman. While few contemporary viewers would want to emulate her lifestyle \u2013 especially when it comes to running to an outhouse in winter \u2013 it is difficult not to appreciate her quiet strength and her dedication to an existence that blessed her on an emotional and professional level. The fact she views her weaving as way to make a living and not as a statement of artistic vision makes her one of the most unpretentious artists to achieve fame.<\/p>\n

The version of the film available on YouTube appears to have come from a faded 16mm print from an educational release. It would be wonderful if a cleaner version was available for viewing \u2013 but until such a copy turns up, this is the best (and only) way to enjoy the Oscar-nominated film:<\/p>\n