by Spoiler Alert! This article contains spoilers of Pedro Páramo
Rodrigo Prieto has an extended career as a director of photography having worked with directors like Alejandro González Iñárritu, Ang Lee, Spike Lee, and Martin Scorsese. He has also been a four-time nominee for the Academy Awards and Bafta Awards. In 2024 his debut film, Pedro Páramo, was released on Netflix and it’s based in the symbolic Juan Rulfo’s novel, published in 1955.
The novel blends magic realism and profound meditations on love, solitude, death, and the oppressive control of Hacendados (large estate owners) over rural Mexico from the 1800s to the mid-1900s. Prieto’s adaptation stays faithful to the original, narrating the journey of Juan Preciado, a young man who promises his dying mother to search for his father, Pedro Páramo—a feared and powerful man in the ghostly town of Comala.
Upon arrival at Comala, Juan finds himself in a ghostly town inhabited by the echoes of the past and the souls trapped in an eternal limbo. Through fragmented stories, Pedro’s absolute control over Comala and its people is revealed, as well as his obsession for Susana San Juan -the one that got away- a love that marked his life and drove him to emotional and moral ruin.
The narrative combines memories of dead villagers and Juan’s experiences. This builds a somber and poetic ambiance in which the fine line between the living and the dead blurs. The movie explores universal themes like abuse of power, failed redemption, and the weight of unfulfilled promises, capturing the bittersweet and desolate scenery from the book.
What does this journey between the living, the dead, and the memories mean?
The historical context is Pre-revolutionary and Revolutionary (1870-1930). It depicts how in several regions spread through Mexico, Hacendados were in full control of towns and their people. The Mexican Revolution (1910–1920) was driven by widespread social, economic, and political inequality under the long dictatorship of Porfirio Díaz. His regime favored the wealthy elite, particularly Hacendados, allowing them to control vast amounts of land.
The abuse of Hacendados played a key role because they exploited “peones” (landless rural workers) through unfair labor practices, such as debt peonage, and dispossessed small farmers and Indigenous communities of their ancestral lands. This created extreme disparities in wealth and land ownership, leaving the majority of Mexicans impoverished and disenfranchised. The revolution began as a call for democratic reforms, land redistribution, and social justice.
This systemic abuse from the elite extended through their land, establishments, and family members. For example, Miguel Páramo sexually assaulted young women and everyone in the town still respected him. Priest Rendería first took baby Miguel Páramo to Pedro as he was the father and his mother had died alone during childbirth. Years later, Priest Rendería had to bless Miguel Páramo at his funeral even though he didn’t want to because he abused Rendería’s niece and killed her father. This corruption is revealed when Priest Rentería, despite his grievances, accepts bribes from Pedro to perform sacred rites for Miguel.
The Priest appears in scenes of confessions, supporting his niece, helping the women Pedro used and later abandoned, and helping Susana San Juan recover in hopes of her appearance at his church. In other words, Priest Rentería represents death, guilt, and forgiveness. Death is another prevalent theme in the story and Mexican literature due to pre-Hispanic traditions, an existential inquiry by multiple authors, and because of Mexico’s violent history (Indigenous invasions, Spanish conquest, Mexican Independence and Revolution, and current social struggles).
Death in Pedro Páramo revolves around religion and sin. The name Pedro comes from the Latin word – Petrus (stone)- and Páramo comes from the Latin word – Paramus (rocky and desert terrain)-. They have all sinned, “¿No me ve el pecado?” (Don’t you see sin in me?): incest, suicide, rape, murder, deceit, greed, and adultery have cursed Comala leaving the dead walking around a dry and lonely town. The priest also represents a “spiritual tyrant” hence being told he can’t continue consecrating others if he’s a sinner himself. Pedro Páramo portrays the demonic figure through his tyranny, which extends to his son Miguel. Still, sin is inside every soul of Comala, which has taken away the possibility of purification. Their inability to move on reflects a spiritual stagnation tied to Pedro’s corrupt and oppressive rule.
Susana San Juan had always been Pedro’s ideal partner. They grew up together and cherished one another until she had to leave to bury her mother and never go back to Comala. 30 years later she returned to marry Pedro, but she went mad. She was tormented by her father appearing in her dreams and her character represents craziness and magic realism. She ended up locked inside her room stuck in her dreams until she passed away. When she died, Pedro ordered bells to be tolled trying to announce and honor her death. Accidentally, the people of Comala thought the bells announced a party, so they joined it. This angered and humiliated Pedro so he swore to retaliate. He abandoned his land, houses, and businesses, leading the town to ruin and extinction.
Pedro is like a stone, rigid and stubborn. Simultaneous to the narration of his death, Juan Preciado -his son who was looking for him and ran into the spirits- died in Comala tormented by his father’s sins. Both of their deaths represent the inevitable cycle of life, the consequences of immorality, loneliness, and the hardship and pain faced by the oppressed. Their memories and deaths reveal the unaddressed history of trauma and the differences between colonial Hispanic descendants and the Indigenous. Pedro’s lonely death reminds us of the pointless nature of greed, power, and vengeance. Everyone in Comala was separated in life by uneven distributions of resources, but united by the “after-life”. In other words, the story explores human nature and the human condition in the context of oppression in rural Mexico.
In the end, Prieto’s adaptation delivers a poignant message: despite life’s disparities, all are united in death. Pedro Páramo is more than a cinematic masterpiece—it’s a deep exploration of Mexico’s social and historical wounds and a testament to the timelessness of Juan Rulfo’s storytelling.
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Rodrigo Prieto Pedro Páramo Netflix adaptation 2024. Magic realism films inspired by Mexican literature. Historical movies about rural Mexico and hacendados. Exploring sin and redemption in Pedro Páramo. Juan Rulfo’s Pedro Páramo: From novel to Netflix.
Rodrigo Prieto debut film Netflix
Pedro Páramo movie 2024
Juan Rulfo magic realism adaptation
Mexican cinema Netflix releases
Mexican Revolution historical movies
