Maria Louisa Bemberg, the granddaughter of German immigrants to Argentina, was 48 years old and the mother of four when she moved from Franco’s Spain back to Peronist Argentina to pursue a film career. At 68, she moved her critical eye to the Church of New Spain when she directed I, the Worst of All. A compelling true story of a seventeenth century nun in the convent of St. Gerome outside Mexico City, the film explores the effect of misogyny and jingoism upon the lives of genuinely good natured, intelligent, and faithful women who see knowledge and God as synonymous. This world view crashes down when a new Viceroy comes to the new world and challenges the status quo of the Bishop of Puebla, the ecclesiastical authority in New Spain. Caught in a political trap that could cost her a trial by the Inquisition, Sor Juana uses her wits to try to survive in a man’s world. Bemberg’s focus is of course women’s rights but along the way we see shades of the authoritarianism Bemberg herself was subjected to. Joining me on this episode is Dr. Teresa Van Hoy of St. Mary’s University, San Antonio. WORKS CITED Find I, the Worst of All on DVD at http://firstrunfeatures.com/iworstofalldvd.html De La Cruz, Sor Juana Ines. Selected Works. Ed. Julia Alvarez. Translated by Edith Grossman. W.W. Norton and Company. New York. 2014. Sor Juana: The Traps of Faith by Octavio Paz. Harvard University Press. 1990. Find me at www.thatdylandavis.com and @thatdylandavis on Twitter Find Teresa’s book A Social History of Mexico's Railroads: Peons, Prisoners, and Priests on Amazon https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B00FF9PWMM/ref=dbs_a_def_rwt_hsch_vapi_tkin_p1_i0 Find Rozalind at www.rozalindmacphail.com
