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MÉXICO, MÉXICO, RA, RA, RA, RA after half a century

Rafael Aviña

A controversial character beyond comparison, Gustavo Alatriste (1922-2006), producer, entrepreneur and an indisputable figure of cultural politics in Mexico, demonstrated from his first steps in cinema a critical and sharp tendency. He dared to solve the delusions of Luis Buñuel's genius and, in the sixties, he produced for him: Viridiana, The Exterminating Angel and Simon of the Desert, as well as some provocative works by Rogelio A. Gonzalez, such as Toña, nacida virgen.

In an unexpected way, Alatriste made his debut in filmmaking with Los adelantados (1969), an independent documentary filmed on 16 mm, with live interviews in a henequen ejido [a communal land that is usually located on the outskirts of a town] of Citincabchén, in Yucatán: children and adults as agricultural slaves who must spend their small salaries on vouchers from a small grocery store that evokes the exploitation of the Porfiriato [an era of dictatorial government led by President Porfirio Díaz]. A place where time seems to remain suspended, like the obsolete machinery that the farmers work with.

With more resources and a team of young filmmakers, such as Arturo Ripstein, Rafael Castanedo, Alexis Grivas and Toni Kuhn, a year later Alatriste made QRR (Quien resulte responsable) (1970), a documentary focused on such a conflictive place as Ciudad Nezahualcóyotl, a sort of microcosm of Mexico City itself, with its shortcomings, corruption, violence and broken illusions, with some noteworthy moments such as the one about the young man arrested who explains the way he defended himself from an aggressor.

QRR, a film that apparently had the support of high-level government functionaries such as Carlos Hank González, portrayed Alatriste's cinema in an embryonic state. An extreme mixture of social criticism, violent humor, ambiguous political stance and description of bureaucracy, injustice, illegality and ignorance, as is shown in other of his independent films such as Victorino/Las calles no se siembran (1973) and Entre violetas (1973), with the plot assistance of Ariel Zuñiga, which would open the path for his most iconic work, which celebrates half a century of its production: México, México, ra ra ra ra (1975), followed by the failed films En la cuerda de hambre (1978) and La grilla/México, México, ra ra ra ra 2 (1979), explosive, polemic and paternalistic stories about misery, police corruption, repression, violence, sexual lust and the abuse of authority, starring Héctor Suárez in multiple roles and all premiered in Alatriste's own art theaters: Theaters Buñuel, Bergman Chaplin, Ferreri, Godard and Kubrick.

From a pedestrian bridge, the unemployed Librado (Héctor Suárez) spits, urinates and swears at the cars that cross under his feet. It is the beginning of a transgressive, unusual and even premonitory film, censored at that time; “The worst thing is not corruption, the worst thing is not ignorance, the absolute worst thing is that we don’t want to learn. Mexico is a country on its knees that doesn’t want to get up...”, declared Alatriste about México, México, ra ra ra ra, written by himself with the collaboration of Fernando Césarman and Héctor Suárez, who was then becoming one of the most versatile actors in Mexico. México, México, ra ra ra ra became a bold document for a politically unstable and demagogic period, such as the six-year of president Echeverría’s administration.

Assembled by a succession of apparently disconnected vignettes, the film depicts several critical situations: a proletarian family full of children, with a lack of resources in the middle of disturbing images of promiscuity and overcrowding. A couple of police officers abuse a housemaid and a pregnant woman. A group of teachers and parents reject the elementary school textbooks and their chapters about sexual education. A slaughterhouse with sick cows provides the typical bribery. A group of rich and spoiled teenagers argue about cinema and end up in the police station after a drug and sex brawl, and are released because of their influences. A couple of guys, hired by an influential government functionary, disguise themselves as soldiers and cowardly murder some rebellious ejidatarios [owners of ejidos] in the Guerrero highlands, or Librado himself, tearing off car antennas and being beaten by those affected

“People will not believe it when they see the film, we are still living the same problems of corruption and abuse of authority in the government on all levels. I filmed this in 1975 and, back then, I didn't believe it. For many years I have been listening to people saying: ‘Finally we are going to succeed with this government’. And each one of the governments has been worse, worse, and worse, and worse...”, declared Alatriste in 1996. México, México, ra ra ra ra is perhaps an imperfect work, sometimes too demagogic; however, its paternalistic vision turns out to be disturbing, clear and up to date. As if that were not enough, it featured several future personalities of Mexican cinema such as: Mario García González, Ernesto Gómez Cruz, Patricia Reyes Spíndola, Juan Ángel Martínez and more, and Héctor Suárez achieved a brilliant tour de force playing several characters in this disturbing exploration of resentment and social frustration.

Translated by Adrik Díaz