Mexico’s Social Horrors Over Its Magnificent Landscape

Film critic na ba ako?

Answer is no. This one’s a rushed three-page reaction paper. I just felt like giving blog droppers a chance to take a look at how I see certain films. Hope someone reacts on this. Expects none, though.

The film Y Tu Mama Tambien, written and directed by Alfonso Cuaron (second director of Harry Potter), tells a rudely erotic tale of a riveting journey of two young men just ripe for university studies and an older married woman from Mexico City to Heaven’s Mouth or Boca del Cielo, the latter initially non-existing only to be found out that there really is a place on Earth that leads to heaven.

There were two major techniques easily recognized in the film. First, it focused on landscaped backgrounds. The sceneries did not only captivate the audience but also took them around breath-taking Mexican terrain, packaging the country as a land with astounding physical attributes, a must-see for tourists. The film’s fascinating sceneries stroke the audience’s craving for green landscapes and blue beaches.

Second, the director used an “in-your-face” illustration of critical scenes. Critical is used here in the sense that it questions the moral standards of the people and places portrayed, and the viewers. “In-your-face” means straightforward, upfront, no coating, no zoom-in zoom-out techniques and effects, only plain act-and-shoot scenes.

These two techniques contradict each other. Mexico’s natural beauty is evident in its beautiful mountains, roadside sites, and beaches. The audience is brought to dreamy places, the ideal summer get-away, and the like. From Mexico City to Oaxaca, the viewer gets a taste of life from urban surroundings to a purely rural environment. But these things are only sweet to the eyes. The scenes depicting premarital sex, adultery, drug addiction, and, alcohol indulgence among the youth expose bigger and heavier problems of the society. The film immediately poses the question “What are your moral standards?” by illustrating the aforementioned issues. The audience also immediately asks himself, “What defines the boundary between moral and immoral?” Also, less radical thinking will only consider a neutral or half-way point of view on these issues, therefore asking only “What is acceptable?” It is also a point of consideration that the audience is of diverse backgrounds, therefore giving different definitions of moral standards.

During the three’s journey to Boca del Cielo, the society’s class system is exposed. Julio Zapata and Tenoch Iturbide clearly come from the upper class. Luisa Cortes, however, illustrates a person coming from the lower middle class. There is a so called elevation of status when Cortes married Jano Montes de Oca, a writer of intellectual beginnings. During the film’s progress, Cortes states her being passive about her humble beginnings when confronted by her husband’s friends, clearly because she does not belong to the same class.

Another major issue portrayed in the film is poverty. The road trip brought the three to rural surroundings where poverty is already a way of life. Men and women from the rural areas enjoy no luxuries. Job opportunities are scarce. There is little or no commercialization in the rural areas due to very little opportunities for businesses to grow as seen at the hotel where the three checked-in for the night. The hotel is poorly maintained and there is a scarcity of guests. In short, income generation is very low.

Due to the gap between the upper and the lower class, there is very little interaction between the two. It felt like poverty is just part of the landscape where the three passed by along their journey towards their destination. This exposes a truth in almost every society in the world: poverty is an upper class “don’t care”.

The film’s portrayal of a society’s horrors, not only of Mexico but every other country in the world is not at all surprising. In the Philippines, a dramatic percentage of men and women before reaching legal age have already engaged into premarital sex. Also, drug use is still a major problem among the youth. Another issue is adultery. The Philippines, being a Christian country sees this issue as immoral, a grave sin. But, what cannot be denied is the fact that a number of married people in the country commit adultery as if it is something very typical.

In the film, Tenoch Iturbide’s father is the head of the state. His position as a powerful political figure is apparent. On the contrary, seeing Tenoch smoke and use dope with his friends given that drug use is prohibited in Mexico depicts the failure of his father not only as the head of the state but also as the head of the family to enforce rules.

The film Y Tu Mama Tambien gives an excellent portrayal of the reality that exists in Mexico and in most parts of the world. Poverty, death due to sickness, drugs, sex, politics, and social relationships abound. These things can somehow even be considered as what makes the world go round.