Introduction

Emilio Fernandez (1904-86) and Juan Rulfo (1917-86) were very different individuals. While the former was loud, demanding, and self-confident, Rulfo was quiet, reserved, and self-critical. An examination of their creative visions will only distinguish the two artists even further. El Indio was a quintessential proponent of the movement to identify through art an identity that would redeem the nation in the difficult decades following the Mexican Revolution. His nationalist vision was generally idealistic and mythic, machista, grandiose, and melodramatic. It was probably in 1956 that Rulfo began meeting with Fernandez in an effort to develop ideas for the silver screen. Although it is likely that the pair considered more than one project, the single completed screenplay that came out of this relationship was titled Paloma herida. Paloma herida premiered in Mexico City in October of 1963 at the Metropolitan Theatre.