Change Your Image
lukesksmith
Reviews
¡Que viva México! (2023)
Movie adequately portrays dysfunctional family problems
I loved how this movie portrayed different problems and typical issues that are seen in Mexico. I married a Mexican and lived there 4 years. I've seen almost every single one of these depictions from so many different families there. My review talks about how this movie relates to us and why I think the director did a splendid job on explaining the social problems that exist between families.
I understand that not everyone in Mexico is as depicted in the movie, but from my experience, almost everyone can relate to where the "rich" person can fork over loads of money whether it be a rich person from DF or from family members in USA. Many poor family members cannot stand that their siblings want to study to do something with their life and they will sabotage them so that they fail just as the rest of the family had failed.
Another example of theft I have personally been a victim of is when the father had to pay 23,000 pesos for the party and he told his son it was 25k pesos and still took his cash. My father in law has done this to me and my wife at least 5 times with smaller quantities.
The movie shows how the entire family could have been rich if they were not so lazy because they never even touched the pic axe or shovels during the 20 years that Pancho had left town. They all just want the easy, low hanging fruit due to the lack of goals, motivation and education. They passed down every opportunity they ever had until it was all too late. The fact that nobody ended up with anything in the end shows how the family could have ended up differently if they had taken advantage of the family mine and had ever been Interested in the grandpa's hobbies. The gold bars that were for Pancho would have been for everyone if they hadn't been the way they are; of course, Francisco Reyes knew his family and couldn't trust them with anything.
The family was two-faced the entire time because they only wanted Pancho's/grandpa's money. This isn't a fairytale; the director depicted this almost exactly as it is in real life.
It was sad to see, but also often true, how the protagonists both fell into adultery and I have heard of more adultery stories than faithful stories from families, which sadly is also shown in this movie.
Unfortunately, the film doesn't talk about the good things about typical families, but it didn't need to because the film achieved its goal to bring to light the issues with poor family members treating rich family members.
People say that the poor don't have the opportunity to grow, but I beg to differ. There are government grants that pay students to go to school in Mexico. There are full fledge colleges that are free to 700 pesos a semester that "poor" people or anyone can attend to get a degree. If these students get good grades then they essentially get paid to go to school. Even then, many students spend it all on a weekend at the bar instead of books and food from what I've seen.
Politics is indeed a reason why Mexico can't progress but it's not a good enough excuse for me because people can progress if they really want to set goals and overcome trials.
The movie's message clearly shows that many poor families drag each other down and will lie and cheat to get away with each other's personal progres or money.
I would hope that people who see this movie recognize that these issues clearly exist, even if they aren't always as extreme as this movie's case.