La ley de Herodes
” A poor janitor becomes Mayor of a desert town in central Mexico, but corruption prevails. ”
Luis Estrada
La ley de Herodes (1999)
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Why watch this film?
Probably the movie that put Luis Estrada on the map as one of the main exponents of political satire in Mexican cinema, which he would refine later with propositions like El infierno. Released in 1999, at the twilight of the 70-year regime of the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI), La ley de Herodes is already a classic that, in its microcosm, exposes how the corrupt - and absurd - system of Mexican politics works under the thumbs, godfathers, and cynicism of the party. The story is set in the remote and poor town of San Pedro de los Saguaros in 1949, when the inhabitants execute their mayor for trying to steal the municipal money. The PRI, facing important elections, decides to put Juan Vargas (Damián Alcázar, in his first fruitful collaboration with Luis Estrada) as a "puppet" mayor to control the situation in the meantime. But Vargas' initial good intentions soon become corrupted by the twisted power dynamics in the town and in the party, naturally resulting in a disaster.
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After the corrupt former Mayor is killed by the peasants, poor janitor Juan Vargas is appointed new Mayor of a desert town in central Mexico. Although he tries to bring the motto of the ruling party to town (modernity, peace and progress) he realizes soon that there's nothing to do against corruption... except to become corrupt. Step by step, helped by his pistol, Juan Vargas becomes the law and the worst Major in the town's history
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From the same director
Hell
In line with his previous feature films, 'La ley de Herodes' and 'Un mundo maravilloso', Mexican writer and director Luis Estrada delivered 'El infierno' - a crime drama with several elements of black humor... very, very black. Winner of the Golden Ariel for Best Picture in 2011 (and nominated for thirteen more awards), this is a movie that provides a look into the reality of Mexican marginality in its most brutal and grotesque aspects, which despite its extreme violence finds the way to balance humor and social satire, thanks in large part to the masterful performances of Damián Alcázar as Benny, and Joaquín Cosío as the already iconic "Cochiloco". An essential filmic satire in contemporary Mexican cinema.
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