At the end of 2017, Pixar amazed Mexicans everywhere with the movie Coco, inspired by the Día de los Muertos celebrations. In my opinion, Pixar succeeded in showing not only the tradition of the Day of the Dead, but also the general view of the correlated existence between those alive and those that are dead. This was done in such a moving story that has earned Pixar two Oscar nominations: Best Animated Movie and Best Song
The movie tells the story of Miguel who longs to become a famous singer. Singing is in his blood. However, the family has a very strong ban on music thanks to a past relative. In his search for music, Miguel ends up crossing over to the land of the dead in search of his idol Ernesto de la Cruz. In the process of hiding from his dead relatives, Miguel runs into Héctor who decides to help him in exchange for taking his picture to his daughter in the land of the living.
During this whole adventure, Miguel learns the importance of keeping alive the memory of our ancestors as well as the importance of family.
Photograph taken by pegatina1 found on Flickr.com with license CC BY-ND 2.0
Coco first premiered in Mexico and it became the highest grossing film in the country. The celebration of Día de los Muertos had been made too Hollywood-like in James Bond, but Coco captured the magic of it. It also showed in a very condensed way, a lot about the Mexican culture. In the land of the dead, Pixar was even able to capture some of the most iconic buildings such as the Palacio Postal in Mexico City.
Like most Pixar movies, Coco also captures the magic of music. The song Recuérdame or Remember Me is a beautiful ballad, very much like the Mexican ballads my grandmother heard when she was young. It is no surprise that this earned Coco an Oscar nomination for Best Song.
Below is the text of the song and the video. Pay attention to the verbs that are used in the movie such as recuérdame (reflexive), llevo (present), and tendrás (future tense).
Recuérdame hoy me tengo que ir mi amor
Recuérdame
No llores por favor
Te llevo en mi corazón y cerca me tendrás
A solas yo te cantaré
Soñando en regresar
Recuérdame aunque tenga que emigrar
Recuérdame
Si mi guitarra oyes llorar
Ella con su triste canto te acompañará
Hasta que en mis brazos estés
Recuérdame..
Recuérdame hoy me tengo que ir mi amor
Recuérdame
No llores por favor
Te llevo en mi corazón y cerca me tendrás
A solas yo te cantaré
Soñando en regresar
Recuérdame aunque tenga que emigrar
Recuérdame
Si mi guitarra oyes llorar
Ella con su triste canto te acompañará
Hasta que en mis brazos estés
Recuérdame
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