La Ley de Herodes (Herod's Law) - Election Post #15

On my recent trip I was given a copy of the Luis Estrada movie .

It is a funny movie - Estrada has a great eye for both irony and comedy. It concerns a minor PRI official who is sent to become mayor of a god forsaken small city. He begins, during the time of Aleman, to bring social justice and modernity to the small city and in the end becomes as corrupt as the person he replaced. The story goes through a number of very funny twists where he fights against and then becomes an ally of the brothel owner in town. He has similar mixed relations with the parish priest.

In the end he kills a couple of people and instead of losing his head he gets his dream of being a member of the Congress.

Evidently, this movie when it came out caused quite a stir. Some have claimed that the PRI tried to supress it and others have claimed that it helped to elect Vicente Fox. Regardless of the hype - it is well worth seeing. It is funny - but like the Cohen Bros. movies, it also has a point. Herod's law refers to a phrase that says you are either screwed or you are F******. In the end the movie makes some great points about the pursuit of power. It ends when the "hero" is making a speech before the Congress about "protecting the revolution." One could easily see the transparent attempts by MALO fitting into this movie in a very specific way. If you have not seen the movie - you should - for both the entertainment and for the not always subtle message about the uses and abuses of power. This movie is not just about Mexico in the time of Aleman, it has a much broader message. It deserves a much wider audience!