The Mexican is a film about a pistol named “The Mexican”. The pistol, which is believed to have a curse, is highly sought out on the black market. Throughout the film, many locals recognize the pistol and each one recalls a different story behind it. Although they are different, they all possess similar themes. Ultimately, it is revealed that a poor gunsmith, made the pistol. It was supposed to be a wedding gift for a nobleman who sought to marry the gunsmith’s daughter. The protagonist, Jerry Welbach who played by Brad Pitt, is assigned to acquire the pistol for his employer Margolese, Gene Hackman. Months before, Welbach crashed into Margolese while he had a person tied up in the trunk. Since Margolese went to jail and it was technically Welbach’s fault, Margolese forced Welbach into a life crime. The film follows Welbach’s journey as he attempts to acquire the pistol. For the purpose of this blog, it is important to recognize the portrayal of Americans in a Mexican setting as well as the roles of Mexicans and Mexico.

When Jerry Welbach arrives in Mexico, he waits to receive his rental car. He is given a Chrysler but Welbach insist on renting something a “little more Mexican”. The customer service agent proceeds to speak in Spanish telling Welbach that he knows nothing about Mexico and Mexican culture except Speedy Gonzalez. He then gives Welbach an El Camino and warns him in Spanish that he going to get himself into a lot trouble in Mexico. Later when Welbach friend goes to Mexico to aid him, he also asks the customer service agent for something more Mexican. This film does a great job at identifying the notions that Americans have towards Mexicans and Mexico. Mexican and Mexican culture has hardly had its spotlight in American media. Speedy Gonzalez is perhaps the only icons that every American can identify to Mexicans.

The primary settings of the film take place in some of the most dilapidated parts of Mexico. These destitute settings not only make one impose characteristics on the characters living there, but it also reinforces the idea of widespread poverty in Mexico. Media has a compulsive tendency to portray Mexicans as violent criminals uneducated, drug dealers or extremely poor. Since the characters against Welbach possess some of these attributes, it is extremely easy to believe they are the bad guys and cannot be trusted. When one first views this film, it is inevitable to assume that the groups of Mexican locals trying to retrieve the gun are criminals. However, in the climax of the film, it is revealed that the group of men was actually doing it for an honorable purpose.

In one particular scene, a corrupt officer puts Welbach in jail after seeing blood on his passenger seat. The officer later releases Welbach but keeps the pistol. This perhaps is another highly believed stereotype. Although his actions were indeed corrupt, this is a reoccurring theme in films involving Mexican officers. Later, the cop sells the pistol the pistol to a local merchant for an undisclosed amount. Then Welbach and his assailant, Ted, try to retrieve the pistol. Upon entering, Ted immediately draws his weapon and proclaims “I no f*** around. Comprende? Gun. Gun. Loaded. Bang. Bang. You dead.” The merchant responds with disdain “Do you have a speech impediment?” There is a common idea to believe that Mexicans and Mexican Americans are incapable of speaking proper English. Again, these ideas are highly formulated through the Mexican representation in media.

(Sorry for the blurry video it was the only one I could find) This is the official story behind the curse of “The Mexican”.

I watched the 2006 movie Babel.  This was a very interesting, yet sad, movie.  This was a complex movie to watch also.  It is four stories that all took place in three different countries: Morocco, Mexico and Japan.  At first you wondered what these four different stories had in common.  As you kept watching all the stories started to unfold and you come to realize that they all intertwine in an entertaining way.  The way they tied these four stories together was wonderful.  Each of the four stories focused on children in an interesting way.  All gave the same message to protect and care for your children and as much as you try to protect them sometimes bad things happen anyway.

In Morocco:  Richard and Susan are vacationing in Morocco while their two children are back home in the United States with a nanny.  They are in Morocco to try and grieve for their deceased son who died of sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS).  As they are riding in a bus, Susan is hit by a bullet that came from somewhere outside of the moving bus.  Eventually Richard gets Susan to a doctor and from the hospital he calls Amelia.

In Morocco you also have Hassan and his young two sons, Yusuf and Ahmed.  Hassan has just bartered a rifle from one of his neighbors in exchange for his goat.  He has to leave but he gives the rifle to his sons.  He tells them to go kill some jackals because they keep attacking their goats.  Once the father leaves, the two boys go to search for jackals.  As they play around they start arguing about who can shoot more precisely.  As they are standing up on a hill, they see a bus far down on a road beneath them.  Boys being boys, they try to see who can actually hit the bus.  One of them goes and shoots at.  Nothing happens. His brother starts making fun of him saying that he can’t aim.  Then the bus comes to a stop.

In the United States you meet Amelia and Richard and Susan’s two little children.  Amelia gets a phone call from Richard saying something has happened and he needs Amelia to stay with the children longer.  Amelia tells him that her son, in Mexico, is getting married and she wants to be there.  He says he needs her to stay and has no one else to watch them.  Amelia then decides to take the children across the border so she can attend her son’s wedding.  Once the wedding is over she decides to cross back into the U.S.  She doesn’t realize that she needs a notarized letter of permission in order to take someone else’s children across the border.  As she tries to cross the border with her nephew driving, the border patrol stops them.  He asks her for the letter of permission.  She doesn’t have it.  The border patrol tells them to pull over for a secondary inspection.  Instead of pulling over to the secondary inspection, the nephew gets scared of going to jail, he had been drinking at the wedding, and just drives away.  With the border patrol in chase, the nephew pulls over and tells Amelia to get out of the car along with the kids.  He tells her he is going to lose the cops then come back for them.  She gets out of the car.  It is already night time.  She starts walking with the kids.  Tired, sunburned and dehydrated, Amelia and the kids are not doing well.  It’s the morning now, she tells the kids to stay under a tree. She will go find help and come back for them.  She runs into a border patrol officer.  They eventually find the children.  The police tell Amelia that she will be deported back to Mexico.  Amelia tells them that she has been in the United States for 16 years and that is her home.  She has cared for the children since they were born.  It doesn’t matter to them.  The police call Richard and they decide not to file any charges.

In Japan you have a teenage girl named Chieko.  Chieko is a deaf mute who only communicates by reading lips and writing down what she wants to say.  She is traumatized from seeing her mother commit suicide by shooting herself in the head.  As she is trying to get over her mother’s death, she starts acting out.  She is sexually frustrated and eventually ends up exposing her naked body in their apartment to a policeman that is investigating her wealthy father.  You come to find out that the police are investigating her father for a gun that was used in a shooting in Morocco.  He had given the gun to Hassan as a thank you gift for taking him out shooting and for being his guide.

There is a lot to this movie.  Everything was interesting.  I loved how all the stories were connected.  One part of the movie that I liked is when after Susan was shot how the news media reported on it.  The news media in the United States immediately reported it as an American was shot in Morocco and it was a terrorist attack.  The mainstream media is too quick to report stories without getting complete information.  Nowadays, ratings go up as to who can report a story the fastest.

IMDb – Babel 2006

Wikipedia – Babel

Tortilla Soup is a 2001 American comedy-drama film directed by Maria Ripoll. The screenplay by Tom Musca, Ramón Menéndez and Vera Blasi is based on the film Eat Drink Man Woman, which was written by Hui-Ling Wang, Ang Lee, and James Schamus.
Do not see this movie on an empty stomach – the food prepared throughout this film makes you very hungry. Throughout movie the dishes that are prepared Roasted corn on the cob, Enchiladas, Pulpo a la Vericruzana, Tortillas from scratch, Tortilla soup

Tortilla Soup is a 2001 American comedy-drama film directed by Maria Ripoll. The screenplay by Tom Musca, Ramón Menéndez and Vera Blasi is based on the film Eat Drink Man Woman, which was written by Hui-Ling Wang, Ang Lee, and James Schamus.
Do not see this movie on an empty stomach – the food prepared throughout this film makes you very hungry. The scene opens up with shots of the streets of East Los Angeles and switches to a man’s hands preparing a very complex meal – You see peppers being roasted, fresh fish being prepared, flower blossoms being cleaned and prepared for soup.
This is Sunday dinner being prepared by Martin Naranjo (Hector Elizondo) a widowed Mexican-American father who is a master chef by profession. This is a different family then the family in the previous movie I viewed “My Family” (Mi Familia), this familia is a comprised the widowed father Martin (Hector Elizondo) and his three daughters who still live at home.
One rule that Martin has is no Spanglish – Martin insists that the daughters either speak in English or Spanish – not Spanglish. Another rule in the home is everyone must be on time for Sunday dinner. Sunday family dinners prove to be contentious and arguments arise between Martin, Carmen, Leticia and Maribel. The sister’s arguments are regarding the living at home and the differences between Leticia and Carmen. During dinner Martin is called in to save an event that the Governor is hosting leaving the sisters arguing. After a few minutes of arguing and breaking the tension with breaking some dishes the three sisters begin singing the Doris Day Song “Perhaps, Perhaps, Perhaps”.
A little background on the daughters – the oldest daughter – Leticia (Elizabeth Pena) is a school teacher and has converted from Catholicism to Christianity, when asked what the difference was Leticia states “Catholics worship saints, Christians worship Christ”. The middle child – Carmen (Jacqueline Obradors) is an MBA grad and who, like her father has a passion for cooking. The youngest child – Maribel (Tamara Mello) is employed at a record store and is a recent high school graduate. Another character in the film is Yolanda (Constance Marie) a family friend (in the process of getting a divorce) with a child named April (Marisabel Garcia).
Leticia – is a chemistry teacher in El Segundo, enter Orlando Castillo (Paul Rodriguez) the new baseball coach – Leticia’s students see a chemistry between Orlando & Leticia and pull a Cyrano de Bergerac on her leaving notes and cards leading Leticia to think they are from Orlando. Meanwhile the little Cyrano’s are still working in the background, this time they have gone too far and Leticia approaches Orlando and professes her love for him as well. He is unaware of the poems she is devastated. Leticia makes announcement at dinner to Carmen and Hector – she and Orlando have gotten married, they have gone off to Las Vegas and gotten married – after some questions and conversation
Q: Martin asked the question of Orlando do you love her?
Orland: sir?
Q: Do you love my daughter?
A: Oh yes sir, I love her very very much.
Martin gives his blessings of the union.
Carmen – enjoys cooking like father but does not feel that he likes her cooking and refers to her method and dishes as mutts – Carmen’s old boyfriend whom she cooks for feels her cooking is great and thinks it should be called Nuevo Latino. Carmen makes an announcement she is offered job in Barcelona, Spain running a company, she would much rather open a restaurant as this is her passion, but Martin has always insisted that she have a profession with some substance, not making tortillas in a kitchen like he has.
Maribel’s becomes involved with a young Brazilian named Andy Nikolai Kinski) who has put off college for a while. Maribel brings her new Brazilian boyfriend comes to dinner. Maribel- am I hallucinating or are we having a pleasant dinner? Maribel announces that she is going to forgo college for a couple of years to find herself – (as her Brazilian boyfriend has done) Martin forbids it as long as long as she lives under his roof – she announces she will move in with Andy. Again turmoil during dinner.
Hortensia (Raquel Welch) mother of friend Yolanda. Hortensia has her sights on Martin. Hortensia is actively pursuing Martin Hortensia is attempting to seduce Martin. Meanwhile, the friendship between Martin and Yolanda and her daughter April progresses.
Martin is conflicted, confides to friend/sous chef about the daughters Gomez the sous chef and Martins old business partner collapses and is hospitalized Martin has self-doubt about his cooking abilities without his friend. Gomez comes back to the restaurant – sits down and passes away. Hector is devastated. Carmen is devastated as well – Gomez was her confidant throughout the years as there is constant conflict between Carmen and Martin. Is Martin unable to let go of his daughters because of a control thing or is he just concerned for them as a father having raised them for the last 15 years.
Scene opens with yet another dinner being prepared
Martin and Orlando (Paul) are in the yard chasing a chicken
Martin in kitchen roasting chili peppers over an open fire
Martin cuts finger and leaves room
The camera pans the stove which has eight pots boiling with whisks sticking out of them
Enter Carmen to take care of pots
Hortensia, Carmen and April have also come to dinner along with the rest of the family: Leticia with Orlando, Maribel with Andy and Carmen. Martin over dinner decides to make his own announcement – he has sold the house, purchased a new one and is going to move on with his life – in his nervousness he goes back and forth between English and Spanish – Spanglish. He asks Hortensia who thinks he’s going to propose to her for her daughters hand in marriage, Hortensia is shocked when he proposes to her daughter Yolanda – who accepts.
After all that’s going on, the three daughters are at the dinner table and start singing the song Perhaps, Perhaps, Perhaps.
Martin drives Carmen (who is still conflicted about accepting the job in Barcelona) to the airport – he gives Carmen some of his knives which is very personal and highly prized to chefs – this is his way of reaching out to her – he say “if you need anything, anything at all you call, hmm? If you can’t get decent chipotles in Europe I’ll send some air express”. Dialogue between Martin and Carmen is very difficult – The machismo does not allow him to hug her and tell her that he’ll miss her. While packing up his home he reminisces about the events that have occurred in the home. Carmen returns – carmen prepares a dish of chicken pibil (her version of the dish) for her father – he approves of the dish but still is a bit critical on the ingredients – they disagree about the use of chili’s and to Martins surprise his sense of taste and smell have returned. This is a major deal for a professional chef – you must be able to taste and smell your dishes.
End scene: camera pans to sign on building Nuevo Latino with patrons driving up in the foreground
Interior shot: Carmen is overseeing the kitchen, making last minute touches to dishes and giving instructions to kitchen staff. In the dining room the entire family are sitting around the table and one last announcement, Yolanda is expecting a baby girl.
Fa

de out music playing Perhaps, Perhaps, Perhaps

The 1997 biographical film, Selena, tells the story of the life and career of late Tejano star Selena Quintanilla-Perez. As a young Mexican-American girl growing up in Corpus Christi, TX, Selena and her family band find success in Tejano music. After some struggles identifying with her Mexican roots, she overcomes this, learns to sing in Spanish and quickly becomes a rising star, conquering the Spanish charts. Selena and her family live out the American Dream as they tour across the country performing for sold out arenas. As she is set to become the first female singer to cross over from Spanish to English markets, her dreams are cut short when she is murdered by the President of her own fan club at the very young age of 23.

Throughout the film, issues of cultural identity are a main theme. Selena is raised in a predominantly English speaking society to Mexican-American parents. Her father Abraham formed the family band with young Selena as the lead singer, her brother AB on the guitar, and her sister Susie on the drums. He named the band “Selena y los Dinos” after the teenage boy band he was in. After very little success performing at school dances and fairs, Abraham suggests that Selena learn to sing in Spanish, despite the fact that she doesn’t speak the language.   Selena tells her father, “I don’t want to learn to sing in Spanish! I don’t even like Spanish music. I like Donna Summer” Abraham tells her she has to sing from the inside, from what she is, and she is Mexican-American, between two worlds, and that’s tough: “The Americans jump all over us because we don’t speak perfect English, and then the Mexicans jump all over us because we don’t speak perfect Spanish.” So Selena learns from her father to sing Spanish and eventually to speak it. As Selena accepts her heritage, she discovers how to balance the two cultures and draws from them both to create her own style. Selena is very relatable for many of us who struggle with cultural identity and figuring out where we fit in within society.

Director Gregory Nava does a great job in showing the gender barriers that Selena and her family break. At the time, Tejano music was dominated by men. Despite Selena’s talent, she was passed up by recording studios because it just wasn’t accepted to be a woman in Tejano music. Selena and her family did not give up but continued to perform and tour.   With her talent for fashion, amazing voice, and sexy yet humble image, Selena is able to win crowds over and break into the Tejano world, rising to the top of the Spanish charts while breaking gender stereotypes. Another noteworthy character is Selena’s sister Susie who after initially complaining that girls don’t play the drums, becomes a very accomplished drummer for the band.

The film also focuses on issues of race. Selena’s family feel that because of their race, they have to work extra hard to be successful. They feel that being Latino in America means not being fully accepted by the Anglo community or by the Latino community. Selena’s dad points this out when he tells his daughter that, “she must be “more Mexican than most Mexicans and more American than most Americans.” Selena’s dad is unsure how successful their Spanish albums will be with the American people and he decides to have Selena sing in English and to release her first English crossover album. While Selena prepares to release her first English album, she confronts the president of her fan club who is also the bookkeeper for her fashion boutique, about some financial discrepancies. As Selena confronts Yolanda about the stolen checks, she is shot and killed in a heartbreaking scene showing actual news footage from the real life event. The film ends with family and fans conducting a vigil for the slain star.

Selena is one of my favorite movies for many reasons. Being a Mexican-American female who also does not speak Spanish, I can truly identify with the struggles Selena went through as a young girl. You never quite know where you fit it. Selena shows us that you can overcome these struggles. You can identify with your roots while still being American. Selena also broke gender stereotypes and proved to be a strong, independent woman and a role model. She found success in just being herself and letting people accept her for who she was. Sadly, her dream was cut short at such a young age, but her life will be forever memorialized in this beautiful film.

Lone Star Film Review

Films in the Wild West are usually depicted as the white man being the hero, and the Chicano or Indian man the enemy. Lone Star is directed and written by John Sayles in 1996. It is a Western contemporary film that deals with diversity, racism, and incest. It takes a twist and tells the real story where, the white man is the enemy not the minority through flashbacks in time. Sayles really wanted to emphasize this to break through the barriers and stereotypes of the minorities being seen as the villain and the enemy. There is also a contemporary Romeo and Juliet love story that takes place in the film. Racism during the 1950’s was alive and well in the flashbacks of the film, and it continues in this film to the current time of the film. “John Sayles’ 1996 movie “Lone Star” is analyzed as “an attempt to move beyond genre conventions, and reconceptualize and renegotiate the ideas of the frontier and the West on film.” (Sultze, pg.1). Even though this film is not based on a true story, it is based on the history of racism and stereotypes that Hollywood has portrayed in the past. Chicano’s and all other minorities must help to make an impact on Hollywood and gain the acceptance they deserve.
 

Lone Star takes place in a fictional town in Texas. It begins with someone finding remains of a body in a military area. Sherriff Sam Deeds (Chris Cooper) is a main character in this western film. He is the son of Sherriff Buddy Deeds (Matthew McConaughey), who passed away years ago. There are many flashbacks in this film about Buddy Deeds and his legacy in this town during the 1950’s. Sam and his father always had a difficult father and son relationship. It is later revealed in the movie that Buddy Deeds had an affair on Sam’s mother, and Sam has never forgiven him for this. The entire town sees Buddy Deeds as a hero. He was the Sherriff that saved the town from the villain Sherriff Charlie Wade, who was taunting many others in the town many years ago, especially the minorities. There is also a side story about an owner of a bar (Otis) and his estranged son, and both stories tie together, along with the love story of this film. There is a great deal of racism that this film touches up on. During the flashbacks in the 1950’s, Sherriff Charlie Wade treats the minorities with no respect and takes advantage of them by taxing them illegally, and physically abusing them. Charlie Wade got a cut of all businesses, including two black owners of a bar. This is where all the chaos that leads to the present remains of a body that was found. Otis Payne (Ron Canada) works for the two black owners in the 1950’s, and challenges Charlie Wade one evening. Charlie Wade reacts by physically assaulting Otis and holding a gun to his head. Buddy Deeds walks in and prepares to shoot Wade, but another deputy Hollis Pogue (Clifton James), does it before Buddy does. Sam starts to uncover the real happenings of this night by talking to older people of the town that lived during the time of these happenings, and believes his father is the one that pulled the trigger. When Sam was a teenager he fell in love with a girl, Pilar Cruz(Elizabeth Pena). Pilar’s mother and Sam’s father kept them apart for no reasons explained to them, when they were teenagers. Now that Sam has moved back to town, he again has a romance with her. The film ends with Sam finding out the mystery of what happened that night of the murder of Charlie Wade, and also discovers the truth of why he and Pilar were kept apart.

I really enjoyed this film, because I really like when films take a twist as this film did. I also liked that the villain got exactly what he deserved. Matthew McConaughey played a great roll as the hero. My favorite scene of this film is when Otis and Hollis tell Sam the truth of what exactly happened the night of Charlie Wades murder. This is where the twist unfolds, and where Sam feels that his father wasn’t such a bad person after all. The only complaint I have with this film is the incest part of it. This was really not necessary in the film, and it could have had a little better ending to the love story. I do not see how this helps the stereotypes that Chicanos are given. It is just giving a negative stereotype that they also commit incest.

References
Noriega, Chon A., and Ana M. López. The Ethnic Eye: Latino Media Arts. Minneapolis, MN: U of Minnesota, 1996. Print.

Sultze, K. (2003). Rewriting the west as multi-cultural: Legend meets complex histories in la frontera in john sayles’ “lone star” (1996). Film & History, 33(2), 19-25.

www.imdb.com/title/tt0116905

https://youtu.be/UffK-IHM1B0

http://www.imdb.com/videnplayeo/scre/vi4153803033/