The best Mexican films of all time
The top 3 according to 59 votes from people: Los Olvidados · Let's Go with Pancho Villa · Aventurera. (Updated Aug 25, 2025.)
The classics at the top of Somos magazine's 100 best Mexican films (with Let's Go with Pancho Villa and Los olvidados at the very top) and the modern titles critics and audiences have added since.
Automatically translated (original in Español). See the original
Top 25
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1
Los Olvidados
Luis Buñuel, 1950. Street children in Mexico City; Best Director at Cannes and on UNESCO's Memory of the World register.
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2
Let's Go with Pancho Villa
Fernando de Fuentes, 1936. Six friends join Villa's División del Norte; number one on the Somos list.
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3
Aventurera
Alberto Gout, 1950. Ninón Sevilla in the great classic of the 'rumbera' film genre.
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4
Amores Perros
Alejandro González Iñárritu, 2000. Three stories linked by a car crash in Mexico City.
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5
Godfather Mendoza
Fernando de Fuentes, 1933. A landowner who plays both sides during the Revolution.
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6
A Family Like Many Others
Alejandro Galindo, 1949. A vacuum-cleaner salesman shakes up an authoritarian family.
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7
Macario
Roberto Gavaldón, 1960. A woodcutter shares his turkey with Death; the first Mexican film nominated for an Oscar.
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8
Like Water for Chocolate
Alfonso Arau, 1992. Laura Esquivel's novel; one of the highest-grossing Spanish-language films in the US.
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9
Roma
Alfonso Cuarón, 2018. Cleo, a live-in maid in Mexico City's Roma district in 1970–71; Golden Lion and three Oscars.
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10
Y Tu Mamá También
Alfonso Cuarón, 2001. Gael García Bernal and Diego Luna on a road trip to a beach that doesn't exist.
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11
The Exterminating Angel
Luis Buñuel, 1962. Dinner guests find themselves unable to leave the room.
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12
Here's the Point
Juan Bustillo Oro, 1940. Cantinflas and his way of talking without saying anything.
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13
Pueblerina
Emilio Fernández, 1949. A man leaves prison and returns to the woman who was dishonoured.
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14
Red Dawn
Jorge Fons, 1989. The Tlatelolco massacre seen from an apartment; made despite censorship.
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15
We the Poor
Ismael Rodríguez, 1948. Pedro Infante as Pepe el Toro; the most popular melodrama in Mexican cinema.
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16
Hell Without Limits
Arturo Ripstein, 1978. La Manuela, a brothel and a village; adapted from José Donoso.
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17
Herod's Law
Luis Estrada, 1999. Damián Alcázar as a corrupt mayor; a satire of the PRI.
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18
My Son, the Hero
Ismael Rodríguez, 1961. A black-and-white Mexican western about two brothers raised for revenge.
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19
Nazarín
Luis Buñuel, 1959. A priest who tries to live by the Gospel; International Prize at Cannes.
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20
This Strange Passion
Luis Buñuel, 1953. Arturo de Córdova and the pathological jealousy of a respectable man.
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21
The Woman of the Port
Arcady Boytler, 1934. Andrea Palma in a harbour melodrama from the early sound era.
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22
The Castle of Purity
Arturo Ripstein, 1973. A father locks his family away for years to protect them from the world.
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23
Duck Season
Fernando Eimbcke, 2004. Two teenagers in a Tlatelolco apartment on a Sunday power cut; eleven Ariel awards.
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24
Danzón
María Novaro, 1991. María Rojo searches for her dance partner in Veracruz.
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25
Enamorada
Emilio Fernández, 1946. María Félix and Pedro Armendáriz, shot by Gabriel Figueroa.
Candidates
They don't make it into the top 25… yet. Vote for them to move them up.
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26
Canoa: A Shameful Memory
Felipe Cazals, 1976. The lynching of university workers in a Puebla village in 1968.
How is this ranking ordered? By people's votes: each ▲ adds a point and each ▼ takes one away. Anyone can vote and add what is missing.
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Comments (2)
Los olvidados de Buñuel primera, merecidísimo. Es Memoria del Mundo de la UNESCO.
Roma de Cuarón tan arriba me parece justo, qué película tan bonita.