After hearing about the Portland International Film Festival (which ended 2/22/14),
I decided to see a movie. I found the festival, the listed movies from Spain
and Mexico, and read the descriptions for each of the movies. In my
search for other events in Spanish, I learned of an upcoming movie playing
about the Mexican sport/pastime of Lucha Libre or “free wrestling”. This movie
sounded a lot more fun than the other dramatic Spanish language films being
shown at the festival, so I decided to see it. “Lucha Libre” is part of a
Mexican movie series called “Cinescopio” being shown at the Hollywood Theatre (http://hollywoodtheatre.org/cinescopio/)
in Portland.
Going to see “Santo” for the first time was full of
surprises. Firstly, I was surprised that the opening film was shot in 1966. For
some reason, I was expecting a contemporary film, but instead was delighted by
the vintage costumes, hairstyles, cars and technology. The slow, alien-related
storyline reminded me of a “Twilight Zone” episode. The Martians’ shiny, caped
costumes were so preposterous that the entire audience busted out with laughter
when they first appeared. I had heard that “unmasking” a Mexican wrestler is
the end of his career, so I should not have been surprised that Santo remains
masked for every scene, except for a dream sequence when we are only shown the
back of his head. Never seeing
Santo’s face, as the main character in the film, was surreal. But, I eventually
got used to it.
Seeing this film has made me curious to view other
vintage movies filmed in Mexico. I believe the historic value and culturally
blended inspiration of such films will be very interesting to witness. In fact,
I plan to attend the last film of the “Cinescopio” series called “Santo and Blue Demon vs. The Monsters” (1969). It will be shown on March 20th at 7:00pm at the
Hollywood Theatre. Hope to see you there!
When I found the event, I noticed it listed “Viva
Lucha Libre” as a documentary, but on the evening of the event the page had
been updated to describe a “double feature” with a science fiction flick as the
opening film. I had left work late, returning home in Tigard at 6:15pm and the
film started at 7:00pm in Hollywood. Since I’m not a fan of “sci fi” and the
5-North was heavily backed up, I called the theatre to find out when the first
film ended and the documentary began. The guy who picked up the phone at the
theatre sounded surprised. He asked me incredulously, “Are you trying to miss
the first film?” I explained I didn’t know if I had enough time to make it
there. Then he reluctantly gave me the info. However, when I told my husband
the name of the first movie, “Santo Contra La Invasion de Los Maricanos” (Santo
vs. the Martian Invasion), he said, “It’s Santo, Mexico’s most beloved
wrestler!” Not knowing myself who Santo was, he insisted I had to see “Santo”.
Despite stopping to pick up burgers at Burgerville, wolfing down dinner on the
drive, getting stuck in heavy traffic on I-5 north, then taking a detour
through downtown (thanks to my GPS) to catch the 84 freeway off the Morrison
Bridge, and looking for a street parking space near the theatre just off Sandy
Blvd.; we made it. We bought our
tickets, found seats inside the theatre and sat down just before the lights
went down. We couldn’t have planned it any better.
While I had to resort to reading English subtitles
for many scenes, I was able to understand quite a bit of the Spanish in the
film. I even noticed when a translation was off once. It had been translated in
favor of making the dialog sound kinder than it was. When a man was annoyingly
telling his wife something, he used the word “mujer” which the translation
incorrectly referred to as “dear”.
Much to my surprise, the theatre was not simply an
audience of passive spectators. The audience was extremely supportive of Santo
(as if a live wrestling match were taking place). There were audience members
in full masks, and during the fight scenes, many in the audience were hooting
and cheering Santo on to victory or booing the bad guys whenever they got the
best of Santo. The energy in the room was contagious; it made the event
exciting.
As it turned out, the main attraction was the first
film (the very film I didn’t think I wanted to see). It explained the theatre
worker’s incredulous tone over the phone. The room died down considerably after
the first film. The documentary was disappointing. It was very short (about 30
minutes), and interviewed mostly American scholars or comedians instead of
authentic people with closer ties to the actual “Lucha Libre” community.
I was impressed to learn just how popular these
Mexican wrestlers are. The documentary focused on “Santo”, “Blue Demon” and
“Mil Mascara”. I never would have guessed just how many movies these wrestlers
made. They described the wrestlers in these films as “James Bond” figures; they
were looked up to, idolized, they saved the good guys, defeated the bad guys,
and always got the girl. I never knew the Mexican wrestlers did anything but
wrestle, so it was neat to see just how important their roles became, extending
from the wrestling ring to immortal film icons.
The Mexican wrestling films are truly an interesting
blend of American and Mexican cultures. I never realized that the 1960’s
American styles would appear similar in other countries. For instance, the
hairstyles, cars, electronics and more depicted in the film were very clearly
from the 1960’s era. It was curious to see this, because I expected Mexico
would have depicted more of its own culture in its films. It made me wonder
just how cultures become influenced by other cultures in some ways, but not in
others.
