Casi Divas

I just came back from seeing a special screening of Casi Divas (or roughly translated, Almost Divas/Famous). It's a recent Mexican film that has made it's way to the United States. Casi Divas is a film about a fictional reality show where the contestants are competing to be the next star for a movie. It's a comedy that as times is filmed as a documentary, reality show, absurd comedy, and expose. It follows the lives of 4 of its contestants: Francisca, Ximena, Yesenia, Catalina. They all come from different parts of Mexico and are a bit stereotyped into it.

The best I can describe the movie is that it's a movie about a reality show that does not take itself too seriously but also tries to bring about topics of importance. It touches on a number of topics that are issues in Mexico - kidnapping, racism, homophobia/transphobia, and eating disorders. In fact, each one of the women is the poster child for each of those issues. It's a movie that makes you think about these things, but it doesn't try to be a part of the movement to change any of the problems. In fact, it brings them to light just so that you know they exist. Ximena sums it up perfectly near the end of the movie: "I am who I am."

No one really learns anything in the movie, and many things go back to the same way they were. But, the thing is. The movie doesn't seem to be a movie where the characters is supposed to learn something new. The purpose was to get people to laugh and to make a satire of a few Mexican things - particularly soap operas.

I had my reservations about tagging this under "101 must see..." because no one in the movie a lesbian. Although, at one point you do think one is. In fact, that character, Yesenia turns out to be wtm transgender. Since I do not have a 101 for the trans community, and since Boys Don't Cry is on this list, I add it to this list as well, with hopes that newer updated versions will include it as part of the 101's as well. Because I do think that this is a movie that lesbians should see, or any woman for that matter. It's a movie about women before anything else. These women supported each other, were at times bitches, but did genuinely care about each other (for the most part).

I particularly liked how the topics were treated in the film. Like I said, they weren't added to start a movement or anything, they were added to simply inform the audience that these subjects do exist, and these are things that people have to live and deal with. And when the camera is off, these problems will continue to be there. Juarez is a place in Mexico that is notorious for kidnapping for women trafficking. Anorexia is something that many women deal with. The pressure to be thin knows no borders, and the fact that it does remain hidden for years, and can continue to be concealed is something that is also real. Racism because of how dark you are, even in Mexico, hell, in South America, is also legitimate. The browner you are, the harder it is. And for the homophobia/transphobia, so much has already been said about those issues, and I'm glad that they continue to be talked about.

This movie was a perfect mix of humor and seriousness. It times it was completely absurd, and then you were brought back quickly to reality. Even then, most of the times it was done as a satire. I don't really have anything bad to say about this movie. It was very well done. Even though it was a bit stereotypical, it was done so that you could laugh at the stereotype. And it wasn't done maliciously, for someone who doesn't know much about Mexican culture, it wouldn't give you a negative perspective on it.

As I've said before, I'm very proud of Mexican cinema as of late. They have produced some truly tremendous films, and this is an example of one of them. It was well written, well acted, and well received.