Sergei Eisenstein's 'Que viva Mexico' through time: Historicizing value judgement

This article explores several versions of Sergei Eisenstein s unfinished film Que viva Mexico ( 1932) assembled by different filmmakers in the 1930s, 1970s and 1990s. While each one of the versions claimed to get as close to Eisenstein s vision as possible soon after its release it was judged to represent yet another example of inaccurate reading and reconstruction of the unattainable, but allegedly perfect, vision of Eisenstein. By the same token, none of the versions has ever been considered and acknowledged in its own right: in terms of what it reveals, rather than lacks. Reversing this historical trend I approach the multiple versions of Que viva Mexico as a unique methodological opportunity offering material testimony of how values and readings shift and mutate through time, how judgements of taste and beauty are intertwined with changing ideologies and politics, and how the death of the author ushers in not the unlimited freedom to read and interpret texts but historically specific and constrained ways of engaging with authorial vision. As such, this discussion of jQue viva Mexico bears on another important issue - material plurality of film as a condition of film study - and becomes instrumental in forging a productive alliance between film theory, film history, and curatorial and archival practice.