The Mexican film “Los Plebes” tells the daily life of a group of hitmen from a very different perspective than the one used. “With ‘Los Plebes’ we want to counteract the damage,” said Eduardo Giralt, one of the directors.
“I don’t think the cinema can change anything, that sounds too narcissistic for me, (…) but the cinema can do a lot of harm and I feel that the cinema here has done a lot of damage,” he explained in an interview with Efe Giralt, who created the film with Emmanuel Massu.
The documentary “Los Plebes” is one of the eleven Mexican productions that will be in the eleventh edition of the festival of the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM) opting for Puma de Plata, in addition to launching in this contest, online due to the pandemic.
“It probably made me feel bad to look for another festival that would have a little more red carpet air. (…) Any kind of “glamorization” of cinema, especially the approach to such problems, makes me hypocritical “, he added.
The film tells the story, up close, of a group of young hits that roam Sinaloa (northwestern Mexico) as they face growth, their future, and what they share with most boys their age: you had fun, in looking for a girlfriend or playing video games.
“This is a film about teenagers born in the wrong place, at the wrong time and in the wrong social circumstances,” it can be read on the festival’s website.
NO RETURN
For the director, whose previous film “The Weak” (2017) has already deepened this type of subject, and for Massu, the other director, he does not return once you start making this type of cinema, which delves into stories and those who live them while fleeing the spectacular drug trafficking and violence.
Giralt wonders how it is possible that so far only films have been made in Mexico that tell stories about drug trafficking from different points of view and far from the stereotype.
In this regard, he said that Froylán Enciso, a historian from Sinaloa, specializing in drug policy and Mexican politics, once told him “Eduardo, film the tiger’s nails.”
By this, he meant that “the heart and the brain” should also be filmed, that is, “chemists and money launderers.”
“Nobody talks about it because it’s the most dangerous thing. What I will do is that: I do not say that you are trying to make a documentary because it must be very deadly to try to say so, but why in Ah, because the other is the most violent, the most yellowish “, he considered.
IN THE FIRST PERSON
The Venezuelan director, who in his youth studied law and then focused on a more intimate and “socially distant” cinema, arrived in Mexico and as a result of “Los Plebes” there were opportunities to work as a “fixer” (producer who participates in the preparation of reports by searching for sources, translation or as a guide).
That’s when he realized how much he enjoyed extreme areas.
“I don’t want to be in the hidden ivory tower anymore, drinking coffee at a Starbucks while writing a screenplay. I realized that this was the opposite of what I wanted in life,” he thought then.
Since then, as in “Los Plebes”, he wanted to see things in the first person. “Without anyone telling me,” he added.
However, the work and approach of both directors involves a risk, because, he explained, “once you come in contact with organized crime, you will always be on their radar.”
And, although the filming was quite “fluid”, the risks do not end when the cameras are turned off.
“What scares me the most is that someone else will be hurt. If he throws me out, I’d be sorry for my parents, but … But something that happens to someone close is something that keeps me awake all the time.” he added. .
Therefore, they tried to take all precautions and, far from wanting to fall into self-censorship, they tried to be respectful and not see why anyone could be offended by “Los Plebes”.
“I say that these guys (young people) were portrayed in a very Manichaean way, but I don’t say ‘oh, they’re holy.’ (…) That being said, I wouldn’t put my hands in the fire because someone who was in the movie doesn’t mind seeing any kind of bridge (“thing”), he concluded.