From afar it seems like Baghdad: car bombs, beheadings and corrupt politicians. Up close, Mexico remains magical and picturesque in parts, feeling oddly safe even in the hardest-fought territories of the drug war.
The eighth annual International Film Festival opened on Saturday in the drug-plagued state of Michoacan to its largest turnout ever, drawing the contrast that defines Mexico today.
Only blocks from the site where a 2008 grenade attack killed eight people, hundreds lined the red carpet to squeal at one of Hollywood’s leading men, Oscar-winning Spanish actor Javier Bardem.
No one canceled — organizers say — for a festival that also features Hollywood blockbuster director Robert Rodriguez and Monty Python funnyman-turned-director Terry Gilliam.
“I’m waiting to see the bad side of Morelia,” Gilliam said on Sunday. “Since I’ve been in Morelia, I’ve been blown away by the architecture. It’s such a beautiful place.”
Mexican director Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu, whose film Biutiful starring Bardem opened the festival, acknowledged to a full auditorium that his homeland is seeing a difficult time.
He said the violence appears to be out control, but culture and education are very powerful weapons in the war against it.
“These are very powerful acts of resistance. I think the seed or the root of what we’re experiencing is a lack of education ... the lack of opportunity for millions of Mexicans,” the director of Babel and Amores Perros said.
“So to talk about movies, the festival of Morelia and to support filmmakers and Mexican cinema as [a] way to understand ourselves is a very important weapon ... to have places where people can speak, think about the important things we have lost perspective on in the desperation we all confront,” Innaritu said.
The home state of Mexican President Felipe Calderon, Michoacan is the first place he sent troops after taking office and announcing a crackdown on organized crime. It’s a state largely controlled by the vicious yet devout La Familia cartel.
Politicians are under attack, on the take or both as the Calderon government arrested 35 state public officials last year on charges of ties to La Familia, only to suffer the embarrassment of seeing a judge release all but one for lack of evidence. Michoacan’s sitting congressman is under indictment for aiding La Familia.
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