I thought of spending a lazy afternoon at the movies. With a giant soft drink and a tub of butter-soaked popcorn. I remembered the cool dark escape on a Saturday afternoon at the Largo theater watching giant imaginary worlds of cowboys , space aliens, and the Bowery Boys.Machete had the right vibe for the experience -- one man saving the world with a humongous knife. Danny Trejo was appealing as an aging Mexican Mafia converted to supercop. Robert DeNiro and Don Johnson were perfectly cast. The action was nonstop and nonsensical.
There was a political message that seemed simplistic, but has more substantial implications. President Calderon has declared war on narcoterrorists, and he seems to be losing. Government, police and military officials are routinely assassinated. Many others are bought or terrorized into complicity with the drug gangs. A larger war is being fought at the same time among the cartels to consolidate power. Calderone is vulnerable to assassination, himself. Bluntly put, the United States is one bullet away from invading Mexico.
The violent images in Machete have a safe unreality about them. Real images from Mexico require no imagination. Check out Blog del Narco for the daily report.
In addition to entertaining film making, Robert Rodriguez is also trying to raise American awareness of the crisis in Mexico. The United States has a vested interest in the stability of Mexico. If democratic government fails there, we will have the political equivalent of a BP oil spill.
So, I walked out of the movie theater into the hot, bright sunlight, just like I did 50 years ago in Largo, Florida. After sitting in the dark for two hours, I was surprised to see the sun, and the heat felt like a distant forest fire.
