I recently saw the movie Machete. It looked like a fun, campy romp, and for the most part it was. It wasn’t a great movie, but it had its funny moments. I’d say its worth the price of admission just to see Lindsay Lohan in a nuns habit (even though she wears practically NOTHING else throughout the rest of the film).
That said, Machete is another example of what I call a Hollywood Surprise movie. That’s a movie with a political message you didn’t realize was there, until you paid money to see it. I just couldn’t get past it the entire film.
When I left the movie I thought maybe it was me, maybe I was ubber-sensitive to illegal immigration issues, and maybe I just don’t like demonizing politicians who want to actually DO something about it. And then I read John Anderson’s review in Newsday.
John’s review ends with “…with it’s civil rights subtext, the movie stirs a potent political message into its mayhem”. I sure wish I’d have read that BEFORE I went to see the film.
It’s actually worse than that. The entire movie’s premise is that latino’s who cross the border illegally are victims and those who help them are heroes. And those who want to stop them must be corrupt with ulterior motives. I was squirming in my seat.
As the laughs and cheers of encouragement from the (mostly) youthful audience continued to build throughout the movie, I couldn’t help but think to myself…what message is this sending? And when Michelle Rodriguez cried out “We didn’t cross the border, the border crossed us!” I got my answer. But what should I expect from Hollywood!
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