The first quarter of the 20th Century set the stage for a Mexico, specifically a Yucatan, that was free, enlightened, perhaps even one of these United States. The ultimate bloody failure of that movement reverberates even now across the border between the US and Mexico. Via the rise of cinema, American corporate exploitation, feminism and socialism, and by using primary-source writings and speeches of the day, this movie entertains, indicts, illuminates—it is history magnified and made special by the magical images of silent cinema.  RR