La Zona, by Rodrigo Plá, Mexico 2007
La Zona could just be another thriller about people pretending to take ‘justice’ in their own hands. And as usual (unless it is a pure Hollywood movie), things turn wrong. But this film is much more than that. The début film for Mexican director Rodrigo Plá only confirms the good health of Mexican cinema and its realism and dryness. He received a well-deserved prize in Venice for best first film.
La Zona adopts the form of a thriller yet combines it with social political criticism (a bit of a pamphlet), about the social causes of violence in Mexico, although this could happen in many places from Johannesburg to S. Paulo to Malibu. Part of the success is due to the place where i twas filmed, Plá was able to find a natural setting in Mexico well adapted for this film… those sub-urban condominiums where all houses are identical and follow very strict rules, almost as among the habitants of the community in the film.
The film starts following the codes of a classical Hollywood thriller, from where he borrows the narrative capacity, but slowly that logic changes and Plá achieves to escape the apparent Manichaeism. The film then takes unexpected turns (as when we were thinking that the police were the ‘good guys’) to denounce criminal social practices, police corruption and social differences and the criminal tendency of certain rich and powerful to place themselves above the law. At the end there is no certitude and nothing is crystal clear, doubt is installed and then ends in a heavy way, making it a film you won’t forget easily. Excellent. [4.5/5]
La Zona could just be another thriller about people pretending to take ‘justice’ in their own hands. And as usual (unless it is a pure Hollywood movie), things turn wrong. But this film is much more than that. The début film for Mexican director Rodrigo Plá only confirms the good health of Mexican cinema and its realism and dryness. He received a well-deserved prize in Venice for best first film.
La Zona adopts the form of a thriller yet combines it with social political criticism (a bit of a pamphlet), about the social causes of violence in Mexico, although this could happen in many places from Johannesburg to S. Paulo to Malibu. Part of the success is due to the place where i twas filmed, Plá was able to find a natural setting in Mexico well adapted for this film… those sub-urban condominiums where all houses are identical and follow very strict rules, almost as among the habitants of the community in the film.
The film starts following the codes of a classical Hollywood thriller, from where he borrows the narrative capacity, but slowly that logic changes and Plá achieves to escape the apparent Manichaeism. The film then takes unexpected turns (as when we were thinking that the police were the ‘good guys’) to denounce criminal social practices, police corruption and social differences and the criminal tendency of certain rich and powerful to place themselves above the law. At the end there is no certitude and nothing is crystal clear, doubt is installed and then ends in a heavy way, making it a film you won’t forget easily. Excellent. [4.5/5]
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