A Day Without a Mexican (2004)

The Worst Film Ever

How sad is this?

Absolutely the worst movie.

The film's masterful storytelling did its job. The message was clear. No need to overdo.

Really, it is a good film that seeks to raise questions while supplying some facts. Of course it asks you to take a leap of faith, but doesn't 90% of the films you watch ask the same thing of you? What we should ask is why is there such a virulent backlash against this thoughtful film? This film ranks with Bamboozled as a satire of the continuing racial fears that plague our country and how they are enacted and replicated through the mass media. Like Bamboozled, it also explores the lengths that minorities often go through to suppress their own identity. The film operates as if it was a documentary, and, it that mode, helps a critical viewer to think about the continuing representation of groups as minor or marginalzed in our society.

This movie is not original material. Or maybe I should say it is not an original idea. After you view this movie and come to your own opinion, do me a favor. Check out a play written in 1965 by Douglas Turner Ward. The play is entitled, "A Day of Absence". The play was written in 1965, and precedes this movie by 40 years. The play was performed, at that time, by The Negro Ensemble Company, Inc. Ward was not only the playwright, he also performed in the play. A Day of Absence is a classic play written from a Black perspective. The plot is self-explanatory and the play itself is hilarious. But, as a warning. see the movie first and read Douglas Turner Ward's play afterwords.

The politics of the immigration issue aside, this is just a bad piece of film-making. As a pseudo-documentary, it is completely one-sided and this is painfully obvious in the cartoonish, 2D characters portrayed. All the Mexicans are innocent, hard working, unappreciated folk carrying the weight of American society on their backs. All of the Anglos are stupid, racist, lazy and greedy oppressors. This aspect plays well to supporters, but immediately alienates (no pun intended) everyone else. Michael Moore made this same misstep in "Fahrenheit 9/11" when he characterized pre-war Iraq as a happy place of playing children, chocolate rivers and gumdrop smiles. Even those of us against the war know that was far from the case and it turns you off as a viewer. Okay, so beyond the flawed message, it all comes down to the basics. The script is horrible...what is Spanish for "horrible"? The dialog is flat and corny. There is no consistent thread to keep your interest, instead the film just jumps from present to flashback to fantasy, so much so I couldn't keep track of where I was or which character I was trying to follow. And for a film that caught my interest because I kept hearing how "funny" it was,I don't recall laughing once. Production value is another problem - a low budget film can sometimes be obviously low budget and that is the case with this film. Finally, the acting is, minus some exceptions here and there, very poor and that makes it even harder to try and connect with any of the characters. Poor showing, mi amigos, poor showing.

Sergio Arau's satire "A Day Without a Mexican" takes a poignant look at something that has been in the news lately. Mr. Arau's new take on the theme he has explored already, give us a vision about how inter connected we are in this country. This movie will resonate more with people from California. Mexicans in that state account for most of the immigrants, illegal, or otherwise.We are given the premise that a fog is enveloping the state and all Mexicans have disappeared into it. The Anglos, so dependent for much of the work from Mexicans don't seem to be coping well when the reality about having to do something they take for granted will be done by their Mexican workers.Yareli Arizmendi and Eduardo Palomo do fine work under Mr. Arau's direction.