Brimstone & Glory

Burning Man has nothing on Tultepec’s charging toritos and exploding castillos. Mexico’s weeklong National Pyrotechnic Festival may sound like a relatively tame event, but it is in fact sheer unbridled madness. Local craftspeople build and climb rickety multistory, carnivalesque “castles” that light up, spin, explode, and threaten to fall at any moment. Meanwhile, another day’s “running of the bulls” has crowds dodging fireworks that shoot from the papier-maché bulls’ mouths and backsides, and for some, the day ends with the salving of third-degree burns in nearby medical facilities. Scars that locals take away are earned with pleasure, it is said, though this dynamic documentary keeps explanation to a minimum while maximizing the experience through GoPro camera POVs and gorgeous abstractions of colorful explosions. Director Viktor Jakovleski captures and Beasts of the Southern Wild director Benh Zeitlin brilliantly scores a playful dance with death for those of us who are happy to witness it from a safe distance. —Susan Gerhard