Hipólito Yrigoyen, or Hipólito Irigoyen, is the main protagonist of the 1917 feature film El Apóstol.
He is the president of Argentina who dreams about going to Mount Olympus and discussing politics with the gods before using one of Zeus's lightning bolts to cleanse Buenos Aires of corruption.
Biography[]
The plot about then-Argentinian-president Hipolito Yrigoyen, wanting to rise to the Olymp as Apóstol and cleanse Buenos Aires of immorality and corruption. He ascends to the heavens, where he meets Zeus and the other Olympian gods. He speaks to the gods about the deeds and misdeeds of the porteños, and how they laugh at him and every political program he creates. Several congressmen appear and state their positions. Yrigoyen discusses with the gods the level of chaos in the capital's administration and the government's financial situation. After explaining this, Yrigoyen asks Zeus for his thunderbolts. Once he gets them, he strikes Buenos Aires, setting the entire city ablaze. Pleased with this arrangement, Yrigoyen decides to start over, but then he suddenly wakes up and realizes that everything he dreamed was a dream, and is forced to face the harsh reality of complex politics.
Personality[]
From all known information, Yrigoyen is presented as a tyrannical, cunning, manipulative, and aspiring god-like man who desires to ascend to Olympus and be glorified as an Apóstol, and will do whatever it takes to achieve this by using his skills in politics and manipulation. While he initially appeared to be a well-intentioned extremist, wanting to rid Buenos Aires of insanity and corruption, his method of doing so was extremely extreme, destroying the entire city, and he was happy with it, not caring how many innocent lives were lost. He also displays laziness, given that he wanted to solve the problem of Buenos Aires the "easy" way, without bothering, as clearly shown in his dream and in the ending where he wakes up to the harsh reality. Even though he blamed the Porteños for the atrocities that led to Buenos Aires being corrupted, there is a possibility that he himself was to blame for it happening. Also, regardless of the fact that the whole thing was a dream, it is possible that if it were real, he would have done exactly the same thing. He also seems vain, as in addition to wanting to rise in Olympus, he was hurt by the Porteños laughing at him and every political program he created, indicating that he clearly has an inflated ego about himself. However, even with this in mind, it is worth noting that he is extremely cunning, as he was able to cleverly convince the Olympian gods to help him implement a plan to "save" Buenos Aires from corruption, hoping that after that, he could become an "Apóstol".
Trivia[]
- Historians consider it the world's first animated feature film.
- The protagonist of the film was based on the real-life Argentinian president of the same name who governed Argentina in the 20th century, and this film is a political satire of him.
- The film was destroyed in a 1926 fire in Valle's studio and left no surviving copies behind.