42k4n3
The Force is Strong With This One
Saw this film on the Documentary channel tonight and as documentaries go, this movie was fantastic. This film tracks the plight of 5 Lucha Libre amsked wrestlers in Mexico. Unlike the their testosterone, ego-centric American counterparts on the WWE stage, these five masked gladiators of the wrestling ring lend purpose and duty to the people who look up to them.
First there is Super Barrio, who outside of the ring stands up for tenants' rights and fights evictions and land developers who want to drive the poor from their homes. Next is Ecologista Universal who walks everywhere he goes, doing battle with corporate polluters along his way. Fray Tormenta, an ordained priest, takes all of his earnings from wrestling and puts it to help he city's orphanages, giving the poor children some shimmer of hope. Super Gay confronts homophobia, and raises awareness and support for victims of gay bashing and their families. Finally Super Animal takes on the world of bullfighting and other animal abuses. Challenging bullfighters to fight him instead.
The film is presented in a comic book format as these men are genuinely real-life superheroes. Each has a tragic back story which has led them to be who they are. The animated features depicting their back stories was very well done.
Not at any time in the film were the masks taken off. This was very important. These five men have really latched on to the power of myth and how a symbol can get rally a mass of people behind a cause. There was a scene of a rally of thousands for housing support led by Super Barrio, and the chanting in unison and the masses of people wearing red and yellow, his uniform's colours, reminded me of the final scene in V for Vendetta. More powerful in my opinion, because this was real.
A funny observation I had while watching was, of course if some real-life super hero is to emerge, it would be in places like Mexico City, or other poorer areas of the world. The people there are desperate for any glimmer of hope from te injustices dealt to them daily. These people in bright coloured spandex, capes and masks, who would otherwise be labeled some 'kook radical' here in the 'civilized' world, are propped up and treated like the heroes they are down there. They respect the symbol, not the person behind it. Because a cause is certainly more than the person championing it. More often than not we are quick to tie a cause to the person speaking loudest about it, and depending on that person's character or past, the cause may get lost. (ahem...Al Gore)
In closing I found this film quite enjoyable and highly recommend it.
First there is Super Barrio, who outside of the ring stands up for tenants' rights and fights evictions and land developers who want to drive the poor from their homes. Next is Ecologista Universal who walks everywhere he goes, doing battle with corporate polluters along his way. Fray Tormenta, an ordained priest, takes all of his earnings from wrestling and puts it to help he city's orphanages, giving the poor children some shimmer of hope. Super Gay confronts homophobia, and raises awareness and support for victims of gay bashing and their families. Finally Super Animal takes on the world of bullfighting and other animal abuses. Challenging bullfighters to fight him instead.
The film is presented in a comic book format as these men are genuinely real-life superheroes. Each has a tragic back story which has led them to be who they are. The animated features depicting their back stories was very well done.
Not at any time in the film were the masks taken off. This was very important. These five men have really latched on to the power of myth and how a symbol can get rally a mass of people behind a cause. There was a scene of a rally of thousands for housing support led by Super Barrio, and the chanting in unison and the masses of people wearing red and yellow, his uniform's colours, reminded me of the final scene in V for Vendetta. More powerful in my opinion, because this was real.
A funny observation I had while watching was, of course if some real-life super hero is to emerge, it would be in places like Mexico City, or other poorer areas of the world. The people there are desperate for any glimmer of hope from te injustices dealt to them daily. These people in bright coloured spandex, capes and masks, who would otherwise be labeled some 'kook radical' here in the 'civilized' world, are propped up and treated like the heroes they are down there. They respect the symbol, not the person behind it. Because a cause is certainly more than the person championing it. More often than not we are quick to tie a cause to the person speaking loudest about it, and depending on that person's character or past, the cause may get lost. (ahem...Al Gore)
In closing I found this film quite enjoyable and highly recommend it.
