Su Excelencia

Su Excelencia (aka Your Excellency) is a 1967 Mexican political satire film directed by Miguel M. Delgado and starring Cantinflas and Sonia Infante. The film is set in a parody universe where "Red" and "Green" countries are the political equivalents of the socialist and capitalist countries of the Cold War, which the film satirizes. Cantinflas portrays Lupitos, a chancellor stationed in his country's (Republica de Los Cocos) embassy in the communist country of Pepeslavia who later ascends to the role of ambassador and has to decide the pivotal vote of joining the "Reds" or the "Greens", therefore deciding the fate of the entire world. Su Excelencia, the fourth Cantinflas film distributed by Columbia Pictures, boasted box-office success and is among Cantinflas' most successful films. with its New York premiere scoring a box office victory over Charlie Chaplin's last film, A Countess from Hong Kong, which opened the same week. Plot In a world where countries are divided into 3 subgroups (green, red, and sweet countries, a reference to First, Second and Third World countries), Lopez (known affectionately as "Lopitos") is a bureaucrat from the sweet Latin American "Republica de Los Cocos" (a play on the term "banana republic") who is stationed in the embassy of the Communist bloc country "Pepeslavia" (a play on words of Joseph Stalin, the nickname for Joseph in Spanish (José) is "Pepe", and the inflection "-slavia" of Slavic peoples under the rule of the USSR). Lopitos, who is horribly inefficient but quick-witted, is invited (because of the current ambassador's superstition about 13 sitting down to a meal) to a banquet attended by the ambassadors of both superpowers. After the news of a series of coups d'état in Los Cocos arrives throughout the meal, Lopitos quickly rises to the position of ambassador.