While rethinking my Netflix membership, a gem of a film was recently added that made me reconsider why I even began rethinking my subscription in the first place. Sure, the premium Netflix membership is onerous. And sure, I’m quickly tiring of the never-ending new additions of true-crime dramas. And then, right before cancelling my membership, a film comes along that’s culturally groundbreaking, making any amount of money extorted from me all seem worth it: El secreto del rio by creator Alberto Barrera.
Hands down – the series is a true diamond in the rough!
A Bildungsroman of Mexican origin, the series is a coming-of-age tale centering on the subject-identity formation of its two central protagonists, Manuel and Erik. The story begins when Manuel – whose mother is battling cancer – is sent to live with his grandmother, a food vendor, in the Mexican state of Oaxaca. Upon his arrival, Manuel meets Luisa, his mother’s best friend, and her son Erick, a boy of Manuel’s age. While seemingly at odds at the beginning of the film due to Erik’s odd and “curious” ways, the two forge a formidable friendship by the series’ conclusion.
Many things set the duo at odds. Erick, for example, is a local star baseball player, and keeps company with a group of rowdy adolescent boys. Manuel – Erick’s double – is a quieter, sensitive type, frequently framed by cinematographer Barrera, in day-dreaming-like states, pensively staring off screen. Invited to lunch at Erick’s parent’s home, Manuel meets Erick’s sister and Erick’s father, Jacinto, who quickly notices Manuel’s feminine ways, forbidding his son Erick to keep company with such a “strange” and odd newcomer. Defying his father’s wishes, Erick continues to hang out with Manuel, thereby strengthening the pair’s bond, solidifying their inseparability.
And, while there are many, many narrative twists and turns in this short Netflix series spanning just 8, 50-minute-long episodes, the principle tension arises one fateful day that begins with a wedding, but ends in a search party for a man who has gone missing. Erick’s uncle, Sergio (Luisa’s brother) is marrying his young bride, and the town is a buzz in celebration. At some moment during the celebration, Jacinto, Erick’s father, makes his disdain for Manuel’s queerness known, violently striking Manuel, ordering him to “go back where he came from”, and sending him running in tears to a nearby river. A drunken Sergio stalks and follows young Manuel to the river and is suggestively on the verge of sexually assaulting Manuel when Erick appears, threatening to disclose Sergio’s disturbing predatory sexual behavior to his mother Luisa (Sergio’s elder sister) and to Sergio’s newlywed wife. Angered by this threat, Sergio attempts – in his inebriated state – to grab Manuel, but misses, losing his tread and falling backwards, hitting the back of his head on large rock, sinking face-up into the river. Immediately fleeing the scene of the accident, the boys return to the wedding celebration and pretend that nothing has happened. Meanwhile, Sergio, submerged in water, has by now very likely drowned, his bloated dead body found days later, inciting an investigation that shakes the village’s core.
On the surface, it is the boys’ pact and promise to each other to never reveal the truth about the circumstances surrounding Sergio’s death on that fateful day that appears to be “el secreto del rio.” I will argue in my paper, however, that there isn’t just one secret, but a myriad of secrets that when examined as an aggregate (a whole & a structure) reveal a complex architecture that make this series a masterpiece of alt-queer representation. What exactly is alt-queer representation? You’ll just have to read my future article …
In the meantime enjoy the trailer summarizing the series here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0OXvZE3DjyM
