In this episode of Tale Oft Told, we explore Jorge Fons’ 1995 Mexican masterpiece Callejón de los Milagros through the lens of the Orpheus and Eurydice myth — examining poverty, longing, exploitation, migration, youth, and the impossible pursuit of miracles in Mexico City.

Starring a young Salma Hayek as Alma, Midaq Alley transforms Naguib Mahfouz’s Egyptian novel into a deeply human portrait of people struggling to escape the underworld of economic hardship and emotional desperation.

Topics discussed include:

Orpheus and Eurydice in modern film

Mexican cinema of the 1990s

Salma Hayek’s early career,

Poverty and migration

Femininity and exploitation

Love, illusion, and fatalism

Why Abel never really had a chance

Welcome to Tale Oft Told — a podcast exploring love and loss throu ...