LOS BASTARDOS
Mexico, 2008, 90 minutes, Colour.
Jesus Moises Rodriguez, Reuben Sosa, Nina Zavarin.
Directed by Amat Escalante.
A very blunt drama about illegals in Los Angeles, their trying to get day work, the work itself, the relaxing afterwards. Then it turns into a melodrama as two of the men go to a house as hit men.
On the level of picturing the range of Mexicans and other Hispanics who wait on street corners for Anglos to arrive and take them to job sites, argue for the payments and the lift back to the street corner and the conscientious work they do for rather superior and bigoted employers, the film is an interesting sociological kind of drama.
When the film shifts to look at a white mother preparing a meal for her disinterested teenage son, it changes tone and style completely. But, then the two men arrive and it is a ‘Funny Games’ situation as the men take their time to do the hit, swim in the pool, have a meal, tease and torment the woman and molest her.
The two men are played by non-professionals.
The ending is sudden, graphic, and shocking. Which was the intention of the film-maker – to raise questions about this huge migration of Central Americans into the US, their uncertain status, their being exploited and their own desires to make as much money as possible as quickly as possible. And these are the results.
1.The impact of the film? Realistic? Stylised? Relevant? Brutal?
2.The Mexican director, his experience of the United States and of Mexico, the illegals, their work, difficulties, wanting to make money? His perspective on the Mexicans, on the Americans? On the social situation?
3.Twenty-four hours in Los Angeles? The opening with the long sequence in the waterway? The open fields and the work? The building site? The streets and the men waiting for work? The parks? The homes, affluence? The interiors of the home, the pool? The finale in the strawberry patch, the long shot? The framing of the action by the two very long shots? The musical score and its emphasis? The sound engineering? The flashes of red during the opening credits and the final credits?
4.Jesus and Fausto, the long walk through the drain, kicking the ball, going to wait for work? Jesus and his phone call, the money for his aunt? Having a job? Fausto tagging along? Their waiting with the men, the discussions about wages, the stories being told about their experiences? The cars arriving, the few men going off to work? The builder, his wanting six men, the arguments about ten dollars an hour, his bringing them back? Their going to work, the details of the work, clearing the space, digging the pit for the foundations? Their conscientiously doing the work, their being paid? The argument and threats about being taken back?
5.Jesus and Fausto, the money, getting some beers, going to the park? With the shotgun?
6.The transition to the home, to the woman making the meal, the long details of the meal, her son upstairs and his loud music? Coming down, the meal, his lack of communications, going off with his friends, his mother accusing him of drugs – and the irony of her own drugs and using them? Her disappointment, the separation from her husband? Her going to watch television, going to sleep?
7.The intrusion of the two men, getting in the window, scouting the house? The gun? The woman waking and being terrified? Collecting the knives, her having to prepare them a meal? Their eating it, her waiting? Their decision to go swimming, making her go into the pool? The sexual advances by Jesus? The drugs? Fausto refusing – then going along?
8.The woman, her situation, her husband paying these men to kill her? Her offering more money? The audience not knowing exactly the background and the reasons? Empathising with the woman and her plight?
9.Back in the room, the discussions, Fausto and his anger, suddenly getting the gun, shooting the woman? The complete brutality of the sequence? The special effects for the dead woman? The arguments between the two? Jesus and the blood, in the bathroom?
10.The irony of the boy coming back early, his shooting Jesus, Fausto escaping? The boy’s grief at his mother’s death?
11.Fausto, going back to work, the people in the strawberry patch, the close-up on his face and the end of the film?
12.The emotional impact? The intellectual impact in reflection on the social conditions?
