(Photo Credits: Screengrab from Netflix’s Official YouTube Account)
Spoiler Alert: This article contains spoiler for the film Dance of the Forty One.
Pride Month 2021 is underway, guys. We thought you would want to celebrate it by watching an LGBTQ film and we’ve got something for you that we thought you’d enjoy.
David Pablos’ Dance of the Forty One (2020) or El baile de los 41 is currently on Netflix. The film follows the story of a gay congressman named Ignacio de la Torre y Mier (played by Mexican actor Alfonso Herrera). de la Torre married the Mexican president’s—Porfirio Díaz’s (played by Fernando Becerril)—daughter Amada Díaz (played by actress Mabel Cadena) but he is cavorting with a young man named Evaristo Rivas (played by actor Emiliano Zurita), at a secret club.
But as the saying goes, no secret can remain hidden forever and the secret of the aforementioned club was revealed out in the open one day. On 17 November 1901, the police carried out an illegal raid at a private home in Calle de la Paz (now Calle Ezequiel Montes) in Colonia Tabacalera of Mexico City where 41 men were attending a dance. Reportedly, 19 of the men were dressed in women’s clothing. They were arrested for “offense to morals and good manners.”
It is said that this secret club actually had 42 members but only 41 men were “officially arrested.” The rumor that was going around said that Ignacio de la Torre, the forty-second member, was allowed to escape on account of his being the president’s son-in-law.
The government tried to hush the incident as the men belonged to the “upper echelons of society” but the scandal erupted anyway.
Directed by David Pablos, Dance of the Forty One was written by Monika Revilla and was produced by Pablo Cruz and El Estudio. The film took artistic license as the names of the attendees were never divulged and reportedly, “there is little historic evidence of the events.”
You can watch Dance of the Forty One on Netflix.
Happy viewing!
Trite…as the day-is-long!
A derivate plot…absolutely & positively predictable…and
fostering the same-old-story – that married males marry to hide…yet commit adulteries…because – as we already know…time after time…
that a Leopard…does changes its spots…and, we are whom we are…regardless of social contrivances… .
Much Ado About Nothing…because its existence is as old as the world’s oldest occupation!.
Is the story of the 41 based off of a true story.
Us Mexicanos are to macho.. i don’t believe this was a true story
“Us Mexicanos are to macho”, apparently you haven’t seen the flamin queen Latinos that reside in Tucson.
Corruption in Mexico? Say it aint so!
This 120 year old story may have some roots in actual history, but with much of it covered up, lost, or changed over more than a century. Often the case for plays and movies.