The Devil Never Sleeps / El diablo nunca duerme, the 1996 landmark documentary film by Academy Award nominated Mexican-American director Lourdes Portillo (Las Madres: The Mothers of Plaza de Mayo) has been included in this year’s annual selection of 25 of America’s most influential motion pictures to be inducted into the National Film Registry of the Library of Congress, the institution announced today.
“A rare classic… As thrilling and as psychologically complex as a great scripted drama,” (Richard Brody, The New Yorker), The Devil Never Sleeps follows is a filmic investigation by director Portillo after she receives a phone call from a family member informing her that her uncle Oscar Ruiz Almeida was shot to death in Chihuahua, Mexico. He was found dead from a gunshot wound to the head, and his wife says he committed suicide. Nevertheless, Portillo, suspects that it was murder and investigates the death with no help from the police. Using home movies, photographs, staged reminiscences, and telenovela clips, Portillo crafts both an analysis of the crime and a family memoir.
Poetic and tragic, humorous and mythic, Portillo’s film crosses the borders of personal values, cultural mores, and the discipline of filmmaking in a fascinating look at family mysteries.
The Library of Congress also included in the National Film Registry Wim Wenders’ acclaimed 1999 documentary Buena Vista Social Club on the ensemble of legendary Cuban musicians who gathered to revive the music of pre-revolutionary Cuba.
