Excelent film, but to say this is the "true history" is a slight exaggeration, there being very little documentation (and that skewered by the journalism of the era) about the event or the supposed "club of 42". While the incident was and is well remembered here in Mexico, how much is the "real truth" and how much is speculation (we don't know that Ignancio de la Torre was actually at the dance, although his sexuality was well established... fun fact, because Emilio Zapata was one of de la Torre's more important employees -- his horse trainer -- Zapata was "smeared" by his opponents as an allegedly gay man). That de la Torre was a self-indulgent elitist snob and oppresive member of the Mexican "one percent"... as were the other 41... had the unfortunate side effect of perpetuating the stereotype of gay men as a bunch of rich cross-dressing hedonists.
Reviews
6 Reviews
Wasp Network
(2019)
Should have been a short run series
20 June 2020
Being a French-Spanish production, Wasp Network manages to sidestep the political minefield it would have faced being either a US or Cuban production. That said, it's much too complex a story to be told in two hours. I enjoyed the fact that we were not let in on the fact that the "defectors" were actually Cuban agents until later in the film, though the sudden appearance of their handler was clumsily handled. Controversial historical figures like the US protected terrorist, Posades Carriles, was never fleshed out as well as it could have been, nor was the "show trial" of the Cuban Five given its proper weight.
Sonora, the Devil's Highway
(I) (2018)
The refugee crisis meets the Western
30 November 2019
Ostensibly a western (although set in 1931), or just a "disparate group facing danger, who will survive?" movie, "Sonora" is both a look at some forgotten Mexican history, and a commentary on asylum and migration.
The usual scenario... people thrown together by chance facing danger... does rely on some of the darker parts of Mexican history (the Fascist anti-Chinese purges in Sonora, the mass deportation of Mexicans by the United States in the early 1930s), it also brings to mind the disparate and desperate reasons for making dangerous trips through the desert (today to the United States, then, merely across state lines into Baja California). The Wongs flee racial prejudice, Doña Rosario and Pilar seek family reunification, the Commario flees the law, etc. Smugglers (booze in 1931, drugs today), racists, the elements... all complications, sometimes deadly, faced by those having to leave their homes today. What makes it particularly worth watching is that the only member of the expedition, the guide, Emeterio (Juan Cossio), is also a displaced person... when introduced, he is a deracinated "Indian", but emerges as a leader when he returns to his own cultural traditions.
The usual scenario... people thrown together by chance facing danger... does rely on some of the darker parts of Mexican history (the Fascist anti-Chinese purges in Sonora, the mass deportation of Mexicans by the United States in the early 1930s), it also brings to mind the disparate and desperate reasons for making dangerous trips through the desert (today to the United States, then, merely across state lines into Baja California). The Wongs flee racial prejudice, Doña Rosario and Pilar seek family reunification, the Commario flees the law, etc. Smugglers (booze in 1931, drugs today), racists, the elements... all complications, sometimes deadly, faced by those having to leave their homes today. What makes it particularly worth watching is that the only member of the expedition, the guide, Emeterio (Juan Cossio), is also a displaced person... when introduced, he is a deracinated "Indian", but emerges as a leader when he returns to his own cultural traditions.
Queen of the South
(2016–2021)
Unreal!
24 November 2017
Warning: Spoilers
It was fun, in a woman in danger way (c'mon... Teresa Medoza miraculously survives TWO auto wrecks in the first season?), but I had a hard time taking seriously a story where the scriptwriters seemed to know nothing about geography, let alone politics. Hilariously, characters seem to drive from Dallas to Laredo in a few hours (425 miles?) and whoever wrote this nonsense thinks you can get from Culiacan to Dallas in a matter of a day. Hell, you can't get from Culiacan to Mazatlan in less than two hours, and they're connected by major highways. Then, in one episode, someone says "there's only one road to Mexico"... from Texas? I found the election story absolutely hilarious. Obviously, the screenwriters just didn't bother with anything so simple as looking up even election schedules. Besides reducing the election to two candidates (Mexico is a multi-party state) and introducing elements that are just impossible (exit polls, a press conference the day before the election).
The two days before an election in Mexico, no news coverage is allowed. And exit polls don't exist. There is an official quick count of early returns that is reported after polls close, but the official winner isn't known until at least the next day... and certainly does not have any legal authority at that time. When the new governor (who somehow is both a famous narco and sold to the voters as an honest man.. though why everyone knows he's a narco in the show) is declared the winner, he somehow manages to pick up a phone and unleash the Army on his narco-enemies. PLEASE!!!!! For one thing, the elections are in July, and state governors don't take office until the 1st of December. This was just stupid.
Never mind the usual foolishness where the bad guys just bump off minor characters, but keep the heroine, or the interesting people around for a few days (until they miraculously escape), and the oh-so-convenient coincidences of finding a tunnel across the Laredos, or the secret book that just happens to end up in the right hands, I suppose it was fun as escapist fare.
But anyone who has any knowledge of Mexico, Latin America, Texas, or the on-going "war on (some) drugs" is going to find the story more annoying than enjoyable.
The two days before an election in Mexico, no news coverage is allowed. And exit polls don't exist. There is an official quick count of early returns that is reported after polls close, but the official winner isn't known until at least the next day... and certainly does not have any legal authority at that time. When the new governor (who somehow is both a famous narco and sold to the voters as an honest man.. though why everyone knows he's a narco in the show) is declared the winner, he somehow manages to pick up a phone and unleash the Army on his narco-enemies. PLEASE!!!!! For one thing, the elections are in July, and state governors don't take office until the 1st of December. This was just stupid.
Never mind the usual foolishness where the bad guys just bump off minor characters, but keep the heroine, or the interesting people around for a few days (until they miraculously escape), and the oh-so-convenient coincidences of finding a tunnel across the Laredos, or the secret book that just happens to end up in the right hands, I suppose it was fun as escapist fare.
But anyone who has any knowledge of Mexico, Latin America, Texas, or the on-going "war on (some) drugs" is going to find the story more annoying than enjoyable.
Ingobernable
(2017– )
Not your madre's telenovela
16 November 2017
Warning: Spoilers
While the elements of a good telenovela are all present, and the unrealistic coincidences (the first lady on the lam's nanny just happens to have a sister with a hacker toy-boy, and the nanny's son, the stud, just happens to show up at auntie's house the day he's released from prison, etc.) it is as a specifically Mexican (not generic Latin American, or Latin America through US filters) that it works. The references to fictional massacres, and scandals have resonance to our own recent history and various characters are based on political and public figures we can recognize. The conspiracy (involving the CIA, the DEA, our army, the "cartels", and CESEN -- our intelligence service) is perhaps a bit overblown, but plausible to us here.
One thing I thought very good was in the early episodes, the legal and constitutional processes that would go with a transfer of power in a crisis (the last time was in 1927, when the President-elect was assassinated a few weeks before his inauguration) and the formality surrounding our system of government... all without interfering with the story.
What particularly impressed me was that, unlike standard telenovelas, the realities of my city were not "prettied up" for TV. Tepito looks like Tepito, and the actors aren't all the pretty white people, but are very real Mexican types.
One thing I thought very good was in the early episodes, the legal and constitutional processes that would go with a transfer of power in a crisis (the last time was in 1927, when the President-elect was assassinated a few weeks before his inauguration) and the formality surrounding our system of government... all without interfering with the story.
What particularly impressed me was that, unlike standard telenovelas, the realities of my city were not "prettied up" for TV. Tepito looks like Tepito, and the actors aren't all the pretty white people, but are very real Mexican types.
Tlatelolco, Verano de 68
(2013)
Historically excellent
24 July 2016
Although there are the improbables (the same five secret policemen, etc.) and the unlikely Romeo and Juliet story line, as a Mexican historian (not a film critic) I was struck by how much work went into the historicity of this film.
I found Juan Carlos Colombo, as the elderly general, to be an extremely "true to life" character. Old revolutionaries were sympathetic to the student movement (which — for those not familiar with Mexican history — was like similar movements in Czechoslovakia and France at the same time, seeking to open the political system to reflect the social and economic progress the country had made. In Mexico's case, expanding the gains of the 1910-20 revolution to those, like Felix (Cristian Vasquez) the provincial "Romeo" of the tale, whose families had benefited from material progress, but were still held back by the limited political system).
It's nonsensical to say that, although improbable, a romance between Felix and Ana Maria wasn't possible. While class consciousness was (and still is) a factor in Mexican relationships, young Mexican women (especially those from the elites) were not under nearly the parental control that the first reviewer seems to think. Cross-class romances are the staple of our popular entertainment anyway, and this was meant to be a pop version of a particularly painful moment in our history.
As to the history, while the roots of the student movement are slighted (and only incidentally do we hear of its growing popularity among the middle-class and workers), it is meticulously researched when it comes to the government's reactions, and to the often overlooked concern the state had in preserving a facade of "peace" during the Summer Games. The interspersing of Olympic preparation footage, and both photographic and film records of the student protests (and the government crackdown) are particularly effective... especially considering that much of the documentary evidence was hidden from public view for 30+ years. Roberto Sosa's chilling portrayal of President Díaz Ordaz, and Ricardo Kleinbaum as the oily "Secretary" (the still living ... and thus unnamed...Luis Echiverría)are, to most of us, historically accurate portrayals of the men who ruled us not that long ago.
I found Juan Carlos Colombo, as the elderly general, to be an extremely "true to life" character. Old revolutionaries were sympathetic to the student movement (which — for those not familiar with Mexican history — was like similar movements in Czechoslovakia and France at the same time, seeking to open the political system to reflect the social and economic progress the country had made. In Mexico's case, expanding the gains of the 1910-20 revolution to those, like Felix (Cristian Vasquez) the provincial "Romeo" of the tale, whose families had benefited from material progress, but were still held back by the limited political system).
It's nonsensical to say that, although improbable, a romance between Felix and Ana Maria wasn't possible. While class consciousness was (and still is) a factor in Mexican relationships, young Mexican women (especially those from the elites) were not under nearly the parental control that the first reviewer seems to think. Cross-class romances are the staple of our popular entertainment anyway, and this was meant to be a pop version of a particularly painful moment in our history.
As to the history, while the roots of the student movement are slighted (and only incidentally do we hear of its growing popularity among the middle-class and workers), it is meticulously researched when it comes to the government's reactions, and to the often overlooked concern the state had in preserving a facade of "peace" during the Summer Games. The interspersing of Olympic preparation footage, and both photographic and film records of the student protests (and the government crackdown) are particularly effective... especially considering that much of the documentary evidence was hidden from public view for 30+ years. Roberto Sosa's chilling portrayal of President Díaz Ordaz, and Ricardo Kleinbaum as the oily "Secretary" (the still living ... and thus unnamed...Luis Echiverría)are, to most of us, historically accurate portrayals of the men who ruled us not that long ago.
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