Herod's Law (1999/2003) (AKA La ley
de Herodes)
I suppose someone interested in
showing a second example of the maxim "Absolute Power
Corrupts Absolutely" could come to the film "Herod's
Law;" you know, after they fist went to "Animal Farm."
Set in Mexico in 1949, the film
shows the rise in power of Juan Vargas, a small time
politico who is assigned to be the mayor of a backwater
town without modern conveniences. Vargas is picked
because he is dumb and for the first 30 minutes or
so, after arriving in his new town, he sets out proving
just that. This guy is an idiot. But he's a somewhat
likeable idiot with a nice, loving wife and so we
forgive him his stupidity.
But soon after Vargas gets into
town and starts seeing how things are run, he becomes
corrupt. He not only extorts money (initially with
good intentions), he begins to sleep with whores and
kill people indiscriminately. It is one hell of a
character arc and Damian Alcazar, the actor chosen
for the task, cannot quite pull it off. Of course,
he's given no help from scripter and director Luis
Estrada either. Alcazar's Vargas seems wholly incapable
of such treachery. And his desire to sleep with whores,
while he has a sexy, young wife at home, seems to
be assigned to the idea that all men will stray. He
has no other motivation to do so and it isn't even
suggested in the film that he might have qualms about
this option. Perhaps this is a Hispanic "cultural"
thing, but I found many of his actions uncharacteristic
of the shy and unassuming guy Alcazar has set Vargas
up to be in the beginning of the film.
What follows is a long and laborious
film with tons of plot twist that allows Vargas to
slide all the way into corruption. For Mexicans who
might be interested in the political history of their
country, even though this is a fictionalized fable,
there may be something here. But for me, the film
just got more and more dull and pointless as it drug
on for 2 hours. I never once cared what happened to
anybody. Once Vargas becomes corrupt, he's unlikable
and uninteresting.
Filmed poorly in 1999, with awful
cinematography and no sense of flair, the film apparently
was a hit in Mexico and even caused some political
upheaval there. It rambled around film festivals in
the U.S. and is finally getting an arthouse release
in 2003 by Vinevision. What's the point?
Note:
In Spanish with subtitles. Released
officially in the U.S. in 2003.
Also with cult film director Alex
Cox as "The Gringo."
The film won a ton of prizes at
the Ariel Awards in Mexico in 2000.
Viewed at a press sneak at the Dobie
in August 2003. Corey of "The Reel Deal" and Liz of
the local Hispanic newspaper "El Mundo" were also
in attendance.
