Los cuentos de Abelardo (1990)

Three stories of rural life by Abelardo Diaz Alfaro, popularized on Puerto Rican radio in the 1940s, are gathered together in this anthology film. As in the radio dramas they are based on, they are tied together by the narrative supplied by Don Teyo Gracia (Juan Ortíz Jiménez). In the first story, "Don Procopio El Despedidor De Duelos," an undertaker's uncanny good cheer is shown to be overlaid with a pure certainty of his own eventual demise. In the second, "Peyo Mercé Enseña Inglés" a schoolteacher regrets that he is required to teach his students so much English that their progress in Spanish is hindered. In the third, "Bagazo," an elderly canecutter's eloquent pleas do not prevent him from being laid off by the new field boss.