# SERGEI EISENSTEIN'S LAND AND FREEDOM MEXICO, ITS LAND OWNERS & PEONS 55994

This 1941 black and white film is part of the Bell and Howell Filmosound Library series and focuses on the plight of the peons in Mexico in the late 1800s and early 1900s. It was produced in Mexico by Soviet film director Sergei M. Eisenstein and by “special arrangements with Upton Sinclair.” It opens with views of Mexico’s desert, two smiling caballeros, and castle fortresses (:22- 1:00 ). A Creole cowboy with spurs sits sideways on a horse, two men wrapped in serapes take a siesta under a giant maguey (also known as agave, century plant, and American aloe), and a man in a straw hat extracts maguey juice from a gourd ( 1:01 - 1:22 ). The hacienda is guarded by armed men. The band of one’s hat is tight under his bottom lip and the other under his nose ( 1:23 - 1:40 ). Two Creole cowboys relax. One tightens his glove; his jacket is elaborately embroidered ( 1:41 - 1:56 ). The peons, men of mixed or Indian descent, were forced to assemble at dawn and wait to be assigned daily tasks as forced labor. They wear serapes, hold straw hats, and wear leather sandals. They sing as they exit through the guarded large doors, which close behind them ( 1:57 - 3:50 ). In the field, they extract the juice from the large maguey leaves, getting the juice flowing by mouth and then pouring it into a bucket. The juice can be fermented to produce pulque or mezcal tequila, which a guard is shown drinking ( 3:51 - 4:20 ). Two teenage peon girls are shown. A peon couple must ask the hacienda owner…

- Kind: Film
- Genres: Industrial and advertising
- Archive: [Internet Archive](https://archive.org/details/55994LandAndFreedom)
- Licence or status: none stated by the archive
- Who can watch: Tweens profiles and older (the archive gives no rating; placed by Invisible Network from its collection and subjects)

[Watch now](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/watch/archive/ia/55994LandAndFreedom?play=1)