MERCADO PROHIBIDO: THE BUSINESS OF HEALTH

Mercado prohibido (Forbidden Market, 1952) is a Spanish film starring Manuel Monroy and directed by Xavier Setó. Set in Franco’s Spain following the Second World War, it was one of the first films to bring the issue of the illicit trade in medicines to the big screen. Germán (Manuel Monroy), who works in the fishing industry, uses his warehouse as a front for his real business: the smuggling of antibiotics, mainly penicillin (referred to as the “holy drug”). Working with him are his right-hand man Daniel (Carlos Otero) and Luis (Miguel Ángel Valdivieso), who brings up another issue that goes hand in hand with that of smuggling: the counterfeiting of medicines.

The plot unfolds in linear fashion: a mixture of sociopolitical context and human vulnerability in confronting critical situations. The high point of the drama comes when Germán’s son falls ill with typhoid fever and his father is unable to obtain the necessary medication for him. Thus, the film explore the main problems of the period as they concerned the supply of antibiotics: counterfeiting, smuggling, insufficient distribution, effectiveness, availability, and limited access.

Mercado prohibido offers a panoramic vision of the historical and social context of public health issues during the period in Spain and around the world. At that time, the principal supplier of antibiotics was the United States, but Spain, owing to its geographical location and problems of transport, found itself in the situation of a third-world country. Mortality rates were high and access to quality medicines was insufficient.

In 2020, the world’s attention focused once again on the pharmaceutical industry and on medical research. A motion picture like Mercado prohibido, although it was released almost seventy years ago, has lost none of their relevance. It leads us to reflect on the progress we have made in the intervening years, even as it depicts a past to which we have no desire to return.

Monse Gómez

holds an undergraduate degree in Spanish literature and has participated in congresses and round tables all over Mexico. She is the logistical coordinator for academic updates at AlefProEdu.