Has Mexico's Film Industry Been Helped or Harmed by Hollywood? Phil Hoad - The Guardian
go to original May 1, 2013

Nosotros Los Nobles trailer (JoeRiobamba)

An 11-year record at the Mexican box office fell the weekend before last, when class-clash comedy Nosotros los Nobles (We Are the Nobles) dislodged the 2002 Gael García Bernal drama The Crime of Father Amaro as the highest-grossing local film of all time. The sickly sweet whiff of Catholic corruption enticed audiences a decade back; this time it's the equally worn groove of the gulf between rich and poor in the country. Nosotros los Nobles riffs on the cunning scheme of a Mexico City millionaire who strips his kids of all their luxuries by staging a fake police raid, forcing them to drive buses, wait cantina tables and other humiliations conducive to heartwarming life lessons.

Director Gary Alazraki knows whereof he speaks: he is the son of Carlos Alazraki, an influential ad executive who has produced campaigns for presidential elections, as well as for Carlos Slim Helu, the billionaire who is the world's richest man and apparently worth 8% of Mexico's GDP. "Latin America is a region where middle class is very small," Alazraki Jr recently told Associated Press. "So I thought if you want to capture the mood of the public, that's the first place to look, the contrast between rich and poor." He's only the latest to come to that conclusion: Nosotros los Nobles was directly inspired by Luis Buñuel's 1949 comedy El Gran Calavera (The Great Madcap), which also features a modern-day Croesus reassessing his life.

Mexican cinema could use a reality check, too. Nosotros los Nobles is undoubtedly a chink of light for the industry – but it's still only the year's second most successful film, a long way behind The Croods, and is sure to be pushed further down as blockbuster season unfolds. The Crime of Father Amaro was actually seen by far more people (5.2 million against Nosotros los Nobles' 3.3 million.) And it's extraordinary that, in 2013, it's possible to be the reigning domestic film on a mere $15.5m (£10m) in what, in terms of admissions, is actually the fifth largest movie market in the world. $15m seems like nothing.

Read the rest at The Guardian

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