The Award-Winning Violent Thriller ‘Heli’ Shows What Life is Life for Many Mexicans

dorriolds — Wed, 11 Jun 2014 15:22:43 +0000

Amat Escalante won Best Director last year at Cannes Film Festival for his award-winning movie, “Heli.”
The movie tells the story of Heli (Armando Espitia), a hard-working young father who lives with his wife (Linda Gonzalez), baby, and sister Estela (Andrea Vergara) in their dad’s house. The family unwittingly falls prey to the brutal world of Mexican drug cartels and corrupt officials. Heli’s naïve little sister, Estela, 12, lets her older boyfriend Beto (Juan Eduardo Palacios), 17, hide two book-sized stolen packages of cocaine in the water tank on her family’s roof. Beto’s plan is to sell the coke to make enough money to marry Estela and take her far away from this dangerous area. One bad decision leads to the sudden involvement of a vicious special crime force and corrupt local police forces, and the innocent family is made to endure unthinkable horrors.
“Some people are offended by the brutality,” said Escalante, “but we Mexicans live with that violence; it is nothing new to us. We see images like this every day.”
Americans see articles about drug gangs in Mexico, but most of us have no idea what it’s really like there, and it’s not on our minds as we go through our busy days. Escalante took on a very disturbing subject and turned it into a compelling and gripping story. Unless you are squeamish by violence in movies, go see this film. It’s a fascinating and well-told heartbreaker.
Escalante granted an exclusive interview to TheBlot Magazine.
Dorri Olds: Do you know people who were victims of drug gangs?
Amat Escalante: I’ve met some people that have lived through very gruesome stuff and some were kidnapped temporarily or they knew people that disappeared. The news is completely invaded with these stories. It’s in all the books, on TV, in magazines. It is a very visual and exploited subject.
What was your aim with the film?
I wanted to show reality and do that with an intriguing story. When we Mexicans see people left hanging from bridges, we see it as the movie audience sees that first body hanging in “Heli.” It feels bad, and it’s a very unpleasant image, but it feels very different if you know that person and why he was murdered.
In Mexico, there is something missing with all those stories in the media. There is no reason to show those grotesque images like severed heads, but the drug gangs use the newspapers to communicate with symbols and messages to other gangs. The press feeds into that and shows it all.
Are you saying that Mexicans have grown accustomed to these vile images?
Yes. At the beginning, nine or 10 years ago, it was shocking. But now, it’s every week. If you stop by a newsstand, many of the covers show these things. That is something strange and unique about Mexico. I wanted to make a movie that shows the influence of being bombarded with those images.
Do you really see dead bodies hanging in public?
Yes. Every week, there’s hangings and decapitations. It’s very sad. Luckily, where we shot the movie it’s not like that — not so much anyway. We shot it where I live, in Guanajuato. It’s not as extreme as in other states, especially near the borders of El Paso, Texas, where it’s very bad. But everything in the movie is taken from reality, nothing was invented by me. I just put things that we all know about here in Mexico into a story I could tell to the movie audience. There have been hundreds of thousands of deaths since the war on drugs was declared a few years ago.

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“Heli” opens in New York City on June 13, 2014 at Cinema Village. Rated R. 105 min. Spanish with English subtitles. Visit the “Heli” website for upcoming release dates in additional cities.
Watch the Trailer:

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Yup, That’s Me—the City Girl—Hugging a Tree in Mexico

dorriolds — Sat, 19 Nov 2011 14:16:19 +0000

This picture was taken in Xochimilco, a borough outside Mexico City known for its canals. The waterways along with chinampas—squares of land for growing crops—are a vestige of pre-Columbian times. Colorfully painted gondola-like wooden boats called Trajineras are available for rent. The Mexican government is doing much to preserve this area. The water in the lagoons is clear and the wildlife is protected. Birds are not allowed to be shot. At this time of year, there’s a big influx of Pelicans from South Canada because there are so many fish for them to eat.

On the boat, a sweet bread snack was served along with Horchata, a warm rice and milk drink similar to hot breakfast cereal with little tasty lumps. Other people on the boat indulged in ancient delicacies: fried grasshoppers, baked worms, ant eggs and bright red mini shrimps that looked like bugs. I did not partake. Thank goodness there was also normal food available. I had guacamole, tortilla chips, black beans and rice.

When I was a kid I loved to run around in the woods behind my parent’s house in Long Island. My best friend and I played hide and seek behind the trees. We’d jump over the fence and run down to a nearby stream to catch frogs, lizards and snakes and jumped from rock to rock across the water. We always wore sneakers because we fell in a lot.

Click to read the rest of this article on the blog Tree Hugging Around the World.

The post Yup, That’s Me—the City Girl—Hugging a Tree in Mexico appeared first on Award-Winning Writer and Graphic Designer.

Mexico Archives - Award-Winning Writer and Graphic Designer

The Award-Winning Violent Thriller ‘Heli’ Shows What Life is Life for Many Mexicans

Yup, That’s Me—the City Girl—Hugging a Tree in Mexico