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The Realm of Fortune
The Realm of Fortune
8.4
/10
1,008 Ratings

THE REALM OF FORTUNE

El imperio de la fortuna

Directed by Arturo Ripstein
Mexico, 1986
Drama

Synopsis

Desperate to escape poverty, villager Dionosio Pinzón restores an injured rooster to health and starts pitting it in cockfights. When the bird proves to be a fierce competitor, the money begins rolling in and Dionosio abandons his humble roots to cultivate the trappings of wealth.

Synopsis

Desperate to escape poverty, villager Dionosio Pinzón restores an injured rooster to health and starts pitting it in cockfights. When the bird proves to be a fierce competitor, the money begins rolling in and Dionosio abandons his humble roots to cultivate the trappings of wealth.

Our take

Cloaked in the magical-realist atmosphere of its original source material—Mexican writer Juan Rulfo’s much-adapted cockfighting story—Arturo Ripstein’s is a baroque and brutish retelling. This decadent fable captures the vertigo-inducing highs and dizzying lows of fortune with tragicomic timing.