Wednesday, March 11, 2009

The Wild Bunch.

I don't have too many positive things to say about this movie. This film as well as Touch of Evil, both relate to a Mexican theme in a very similar way: both show how Hollywood cinema portrays Mexico and sets up relations between the US and Mexico through pseudo-imperialistic relationships; the Mexicans are the whores, the slaves, the savages, the idiots, while the Americans commandeer them, corale them, and condescendingly show them a "real" way of life. This film in particular equates the wild n' crazy cowboys with no morals or scruples with the Mexican way of life. Beyond depicting America's patronizing and belittling view of Mexico, this movie should not be qualified as Mexican whatsoever.
As a woman and as someone who is beginning to write screenplays, I hated this movie. I do consider myself a feminist, but not a righteous, ignorant one. I can get down to Mac Dre and listen to him rap about bitches and hos if the lyrics and/or the music have redeeming value. But considering this film had very little value for me, I couldn't tolerate how much it equated women, especially Mexican women, as nothing but sexual objects. There was not one female character in this two and a half hour movie that wasn't some sort of a prostitute; literal or figuratively. This made me want to vomit by the end.
As an American, I've grown up having Mexican friends. My dad was born in Mexico, and his siblings grew up there. In many ways I feel more of a connection with Mexican culture than with that of American. I understand how Hollywood always has portrayed Mexico as America's bitch, but that doesn't make me agree with this idea, especially when I've seen so many more, better movies in my previous Spanish classes about Mexicans trying to cross the border and seeing how harrowing that experience is.
The screenplay for this was one of the worst I've ever experienced. The dialogue was very much that of the time and genre, neither of which I'm generally into. Old western movies are not among my favorites, and with painfully contrived dialogue and the whole movie being violent, sexist, and racist, there was very little I found tolerable. The frequent zoom-in shots (also of the time and genre) made for the extra dated aspect.

2 comments:

Jon said...

"This film in particular equates the wild n' crazy cowboys with no morals or scruples with the Mexican way of life."

How so? The cowboys are consistently identified as gringos.

Angell 安珏 said...

Reading through all the blogs up to now, it seems that most girls don't hold positive comments on this film, and i guess it's due to its excessive violence. But guys basically like it as i guessed. but i think perhaps western films are just in this way.