DhariaLezin Review of Tlatelolco, Verano de 68

Tlatelolco, Verano de 68 (2013)

Soap opera drama between history facts

[6/10 · 29 June 2015]

In Mexico, in 1968, in order to keep the "peace" during the Olympic games that were about to start, the government decided to silence a students peaceful movement by shooting them all in a big plaza during a meeting. They were fighting for freedom of speech and no repression. This happened on October the 2th and it is a date that many still remember with indignation and sadness. The Olympic games went through beautifully without Mexico letting know the rest of the world that they had just butchered thousands of students one week before the opening of the games. So, this movie relates a lot of historical facts along a love story, that is the part that I don't like. The accuracy of the events is excellent, the students organizations are very well reflected, and the shots of the actual documentaries that recorded part of the situation in that year, give the movie a really good vintage essence. However, the part of the love story is kind of cheesy, not entirely believable, since it is the same old story mixture of Romeo and Juliet or Cinderella (where Cinderella is the man), and where nothing else than love matters. Despite all the laws and morality that "protected" women during those years (not even to mention their families), in order to get virgin to marriage, to be a good house daughter/wife and (of course) religious. That story would have not been allowed in any possible way. I still hear stories about girls that ran away with their boyfriends during those years without getting married and the families would never allow them back in her place (it still happens today). This of course doesn't happen in the movie although the parents of the girl are conservative and with old manners. The movie of course has not Hollywood budget, and although I think the message was quite well achieved, there are not enough characters, for example, the president, doesn't appear with more than two or three persons by his side in any scene. The brother of Felix, the main character, is an undercover policeman, and you find funny that he is present in every single one of the situations repressing the students. I hardly believe there were just 5 undercover policemen during those days. In this movie as well, is very well exposed the winning side (the Government, the politicians, etc.) and why they did what they did (even it is right or wrong), but however, the loosing party (the students) have not enough depth in their part of the story. For those who are not familiar with the events of 1968, will not get clear what the students were searching for, what where their convictions and what changes they wanted to do in the society. So, to make this shorter, the story is kind of OK, the art is quite decent remembering that the budget is short, the costumes are very good, and the acting of some people of the cast is amazing, Juan Manuel Bernal (the father of Ana Maria, the girl), is wonderful (I would recommend you to see him in Obediencia Perfecta; Cassandra Ciangherotti (Ana Maria) is very good too; same as Christian Vazquez (Felix); but the story leaves some blanks that I would have liked to see covered, and this subject still has a lot to offer to make a way more deep and controversial story.