La mara salvatrucha
(2002) (??)
La mara salvatrucha
(2002) is listed on the IMDb as Veteranos
de la M-18 (2007), although my DVD shows the former as the title with its
year listed in the end credits. The film
is about a street gang. They don’t work;
drink and smoke weed; and commit acts of heinous violence. The leader of the gang is tight with his
sister; and one day, as he is gunning down a fleeing foe, his sister rounds the
corner and is gunned down, too. The
leader is devastated and as La mara
unfolds, he begins to lose his shit. In
an exemplary scene, the gang attempts to rob a warehouse full of goods which is
guarded by armed men. Now constantly
inebriated, the leader stands vacant and still as bullets fly around him. He gives a slurred speech and pumps some
bullets into the warehouse’s boss. It is
unclear whether the gang claims any booty from this robbery. He and his gang go to a cemetery where they
encounter the parents of one of their victims.
The gang guns them down. He rapes
a young woman who, devastated by her trauma, turns to heroin. The leader begins shooting up with her,
too. It is clear the path that this
young man has chosen will lead him to certain death. By the end of ninety minutes, at least. Stiglitz plays “El jefe,” and he sees his
soldier on the street, the leader of the street gang, causing nothing but
trouble for the entire syndicate. A
showdown is inevitable.
La mara is a low-budget
exploitation film, where I found myself fascinated as to what kind of shit was
going to happen next. There is an
aimlessness to the action which, in a creative touch, mimics the lifestyle of the
street gang. There is something
undefinable about watching the tragedy of someone self-destruct juxtaposed with
the same person committing ruthless acts of violence (like brutally torturing a
foe, only to, with venomous passion, force one of his comrades to murder the
man). La mara is oldschool exploitation. I
couldn’t really tell what was up with Stiglitz:
he’s so cold and icy that it is hard to read his emotions. He dies really good in this one. He is also billed as “Stiglis.”
Pistoleros del traficante
(1999)
Not only is Stiglitz top-billed in Pistoleros del traficante (1999), he appears as the protagonist, as
opposed to the supporting role I find myself familiar with. He is an officer on the front lines of the
drug trade and is actively attempting to stop drug trafficking…with little
success. During a dangerous raid,
Stiglitz and company manage to interrupt a drug trade and nab one of the
dealers. A fellow officer shoots the
suspect before he can talk, and Stiglitz has to shoot him down. This scene is representative of Stiglitz’s
dilemma: everyone around him, including
his so-called compatriots on the force, are on the wrong side of the law. Stiglitz meets one of his homies at a bar,
and the fellow seems an affable chap.
(Although in the first scene of Pistoleros,
after a concert scene, this same fellow is seen gunning down two dudes in cold
blood.) Stiglitz’s homey is one of the
key, upper-echelon figures in the drug trade and he has turned his sights
towards turning Stiglitz to the dark side.
He commands his voluptuous lady to seduce Stiglitz at every opportunity
she can get. Stiglitz is actually cool
with that, despite having a gorgeous and loving wife. Eventually, one of Stiglitz’s crooked
colleagues on the force makes a fatal mistake that identifies him as a bad
guy. Stiglitz, with six-shooter in hand,
shoots everybody.
Pistoleros feels
polished, and Stiglitz is a compelling badass as the lead. The plot of Pistoleros is nothing new:
Hong Kong cinema has made a cottage industry out of the genre, and
almost every country is familiar with police corruption. This film has a real energy; and while it
isn’t memorable, it certainly is entertaining for its run time. There are musical sequences which are
nice. The action sequences are very
well-done. When Stiglitz takes over,
it’s win-win.
Cementerio de cholos
(2003)
Stiglitz does not appear until about fifty minutes into Cementerio de cholos (2003) (out of
ninety minutes). He does receive top
billing. Cementerio is about young friends who enjoy the pleasures of
youth: dancing, playing basketball,
socializing, and drinking and smoking weed.
Dampening their fun is a bunch of assholes, a vicious street gang. In the opening sequence of the film, the
young friends are dancing to live music in the open air. The street gang arrives and begins making
trouble. The leader of the street gang
has eyes for the pretty betty with the cool kids, but she rebuffs him. The next day, she is walking home and gets
kidnapped by the street gang. They take
her to a secluded place and gang rape her.
She escapes. She finds solace
first in the hands of a religious zealot (who later immolates himself in the
film); second, she returns home to find her mother passed out drunk; and
finally, she turns to her friends and explains her trauma. Revenge is on tap, ready to be served
cold. It becomes a little lukewarm when
the two groups meet to fight, as they are kind-of lame in execution. As the film nears its conclusion, the young
friends begin killing the members of the street gang. It appears that Cementerio will not end until the street gang is completely wiped
out. Or ninety minutes ends. Stiglitz is the police officer attempting to
end the violence among the groups.
Cementerio depicts
another ruthless street gang. This gang
even enjoys fighting among themselves.
They murder a cop. Murder a
business owner during a robbery. Bet on
dog fights. Lose on dog fights and beat
and rob the winner. Gang rape
women. Shoot some more people. Ruin parties.
The highlight of Cementerio
shows that the unity of young people is strong, and this unity is,
simultaneously and ironically, wholly absent among many young people. Stiglitz chews the scenery. He points his gun more than he shoots
it. The film feels like a slice-of-life
docudrama played with the seriousness of an afterschool special. This is unique, in its own way. I would have preferred, as usual, more
Stiglitz, but I would not be lying if I said that I was entertained for ninety
minutes.
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