El camino otro

Probo’s second feature was not funded by Columbia Pictures, which may have impeded it reaching a broader market, but probably provided the film company with more ideological flexibility. With no foreigners or mention of other countries, the film presents a much less cosmopolitan world. Its setting is rural and thus celebrates an endangered type of life in the countryside. More importantly, and in accordance with Maruja, Orzabal’s El otro camino subtly insists on the power of female agency and reiterates the possibility of the marriageable mulatta with the added twist of class mobility. El otro camino (The Other Road) stages a Puerto Rican, less tragic version of the Greek myth of Oedipus. Verónica (Rosaura Andreu), a widow and hacienda owner, and her son Gabriel (Axel Anderson), behave like lovers. This endogamous relationship symbolically functions as a metaphor for the island’s history, economy, and consequent issues of class and race.