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5/10
Archivist John
Senior Editor
A definitive 5/10 rating for a film that redefined the boundaries of cult cinema. Como los muertos remains a cornerstone of transgressive art.
Is 'Como los muertos' a lost treasure worth your time? Short answer: yes, but only if you are prepared for a fragmented, emotionally corrosive experience that values historical weight over polished entertainment.
This film is for the archival enthusiast and the lover of high-stakes Latin American melodrama who doesn't mind filling in the gaps of a partially lost work. It is absolutely not for those seeking a light evening or a cohesive, modern narrative flow.
1) This film works because it fearlessly leans into the 'social death' of its protagonist, making the isolation feel more painful than the disease itself.
2) This film fails because the surviving footage is so disjointed that the secondary character arcs often vanish into thin air, leaving the viewer grasping for context.
3) You should watch it if you want to understand the roots of Colombian cinematic tragedy and how early filmmakers translated stage-bound agony into visual storytelling.
Matilde Palau delivers a performance that feels almost dangerously committed. In the surviving scenes, her transition from a woman of romantic hope to a shadow of herself is handled with a theatrical intensity that somehow survives the technical limitations of the era. She doesn't just play sick; she plays the exhaustion of being watched by a judgmental society.
Consider the scene where she first realizes the permanence of her condition. It isn't a moment of loud crying. It is a moment of terrifying stillness. This stillness is reminiscent of the quiet desperation found in Still Waters, yet here it is infused with a much more visceral sense of rot. Palau uses her eyes to convey a woman who is already mourning her own life.
Rafael Amaya provides a counterpoint that is equally stiff and necessary. His character represents the external world—a world that wants to love but is fundamentally repulsed by the reality of the flesh. The chemistry is intentionally broken. It’s supposed to be uncomfortable. It works because it reflects the genuine terror leprosy inspired in 1948.
Director Pedro Moreno Garzón, working with the legendary playwright’s text, manages to create a visual cage. The cinematography doesn't try to be beautiful. It is flat, gray, and heavy. The use of shadows in the interior scenes makes the family home feel like a mausoleum. This isn't the vibrant energy you might find in Manhattan; this is the airless vacuum of the provincial elite.
The film uses close-ups sparingly, but when it does, they are brutal. The camera lingers on the protagonist's face as she attempts to apply makeup, a futile effort to mask the 'dead' skin. It’s a punchy, direct bit of symbolism. It tells us everything we need to know about the futility of vanity in the face of biological decay.
The pacing, however, is a casualty of time. Because we are looking at fragments, the film often jumps from one emotional peak to another without the necessary valleys. This creates a relentless sense of doom that can be taxing. It lacks the rhythmic suspense of The Fatal Sign, opting instead for a slow, grinding misery.
Yes, 'Como los muertos' is worth watching for its historical significance and its raw emotional honesty regarding terminal illness and social stigma. While the film is incomplete, the surviving portions offer a haunting look at how 1940s Colombia viewed the intersection of health, morality, and family honor. It is a difficult but rewarding watch for serious cinephiles.
One of the most striking aspects of the film is how leprosy is treated not as a germ, but as a moral stain. The dialogue, penned by Alvarez Lleras, is sharp and unforgiving. It reflects a time when a diagnosis was a sentence of exile. The film captures this perfectly in the way other characters stand just a little too far away from Palau.
This 'spatial' storytelling is one of the film's greatest strengths. You can feel the distance between the 'living' and the 'dead.' It’s a physical manifestation of the title. They are like the dead, walking among us but no longer part of us. It’s a theme that remains relevant today, even if the disease has changed.
Compared to the lighthearted nature of The Poor Boob, this film is a lead weight. It demands that you look at things that are unpleasant. It forces you to confront the cowardice of the 'healthy' characters who claim to love the protagonist but cannot bear her presence. It’s a cynical view of human nature, and it’s refreshingly honest.
Pros:
The dialogue is razor-sharp and avoids the saccharine traps of many 1940s melodramas. The film provides a rare, unvarnished look at Colombian social structures of the era. It treats its subject matter with a grim seriousness that feels modern in its lack of sentimentality.
Cons:
The technical quality of the surviving footage is poor, with significant audio and visual dropouts. The theatrical origins of the script result in some 'stagey' blocking that feels dated. The supporting cast is largely forgettable compared to the lead.
Como los muertos is a difficult film to love, but an easy one to respect. It is a jagged piece of a larger puzzle, a reminder of a cinematic history that was almost lost. It doesn't offer comfort. It doesn't offer a cure. It simply offers a mirror to a society that would rather bury its problems than face them.
If you can look past the scratches on the film and the gaps in the story, you will find a powerful meditation on what it means to be human when your humanity is being stripped away. It is a brutal, necessary ghost of a movie. It works. But it is deeply, physically flawed.
"A haunting relic that proves the most painful part of dying is the audience that watches you do it."
IMDb —
1919
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