Will
Texas fund Machete? Outcry as state considers subsidising 'racist'
illegal immigration film that's taking U.S. by
storm
By Mail Foreign Service (7th September 2010)
It's the most bloody, radical, and
shocking film in cinemas today.
But guts, gore and
body parts are not what makes Machete, which has taken the number
two spot in the American box office this Labour Day weekend,
controversial.
It's the politics of the movie that have polarised
the left and the right - ironic, considering most reviews pan the
film as 'best enjoyed with your brain switched
off'.
Machete has thrust one of the defining issues of
American politics and ideals to the forefront in all its
gruesomeness: illegal immigration; and the racism, xenophobia and
fear that comes roaring along with it.
And, as the film is set to be heavily subsidised by
the Texan government, it has leapt over the border between
controversial freedom of speech and what some are suggesting is,
essentially, state-sponsored racism.
'Machete producers lied about bloodbath,' declared
Prison Planet, slamming the film as a 'pro-immigration,
anti-Texas'.
Even a Fox News review attacked the film for
'blaming everything that's gone wrong in Mexico on the Anglos'. The
film was produced by 20th Century Fox.
Machete, directed by Robert Rodriguez, follows a
Mexican vigilante played by Danny Trejo, an illegal immigrant
working in Texas who takes bloody - very bloody -
revenge.
He is joined by an eclectic mix of stars, with
Robert DeNiro, Jessica Alba, Lindsey Lohan, Steven Seagal, and
Michelle Rodriguez all storming on to the screen. No matter what
reservations critics have about the message of the film, the acting
- even troubled Lindsey Lohan's - appears to be universally
well-received.
Described by the Fort Worth Star-Telegram
as an 'over-the-top pastiche of Westerns, revenge thrillers,
cultural stereotypes, and soft-core porn', Machete was never meant
to be realistic.
Instead it is the cinematic version of a graphic
novel - similar in style to many Quentin Tarantino
films.
In fact, it was 2007's Grindhouse, a collaboration
between Tarantino and Rodriguez, that gave birth to
Machete.
The characters are therefore caricatures and
stereotypes - but even taking that into account, the film's message
is, according to many, over the top.
White Americans are portrayed as small-minded,
racist rednecks, with no regard for human life, viewing Hispanics
as 'cucarachas' and 'parasites'.
In the opening scenes of the film, for example, an
unarmed pregnant Hispanic woman trying to cross the border is
mercilessly shot dead by Robert DeNiro's character, a white
politician trying to get rich donors to fund his re-election
campaign.
'The high-dollar contributors will love this,' he
explains.
Hispanics, meanwhile, are portrayed as noble heroes,
fighting for justice against the white oppressor.
'We didn't cross the border,' states Michelle
Rodriguez's character, a woman named Luz who is a female
reincarnation of Latin revolutionary hero Che Guevara.'The border
crossed us.'
The line is an echo of Malcolm X who, in a stirring
black nationalist speech, declared: 'We didn't land on Plymouth
Rock - that rock landed on us'.
As FoxNews.com's James Pinkerton notes, in the film:
'All the Anglos are either evil or stupid. By contrast, the
Hispanics are almost all innocent victims, until, of course, the
rousing moment of liberation at the end.'
And Big Hollywood stated: 'Machete offers no middle
ground, no reasonable, non-racist position against wide open
borders for those fleeing from what one character describes as the
"personal hell" that is Mexico.'
When a script for the film was leaked onto the
internet in May, Prison Planet's Alex Jones accused the movie's
producers of racism.
But his concerns about the portrayal of white
characters as 'as vehemently racist and wantonly murderous', and of
what others called a 'mini race war' that is supplies the film's
grand finale, were dismissed by the filmmakers.
Rodriguez claimed Jones had had 'too much tequila',
while one of the film's producers said the uproar was 'unfounded' -
and that there was 'no reason for a denial of (tax)
incentives'.
A tax incentives bill passed by the Texas
Legislature in 2007 and strengthened in 2009 offers grants of five
per cent to 17.5 per cent, based on the type of project and the
amount of money spent in the state, the Austin Statesman
reported.
But the law requires that productions meet certain
standards. It also rules out incentives for movies that cast Texas
in a negative light.
Now that the film has been released, Jones and
Prison Planet are back on the attack, insisting that their worst
fears about the movie's content were true.
'Does Texas want to subsidize the films of Robert
Rodriguez and continue to give him a platform to spew divisive
racially-tinted trash oriented at Hispanics and attempting to
radicalize their views?' an article authored by Jones and Aaron
Dykes asked.
However when Jones, who is also a radio DJ, was
interviewed by the Austin Statesman, he appeared to
backtrack.
'I support tax incentives for industry and for film
and the arts,' he was quoted as saying.
'Robert Rodriguez has a right to make any movie he
wants. If he's putting out this hard-core, race war film - if he's
releasing it the way the script states - I think it should get its
funding, but they had better remove any controls off of any other
films...
'If they let this go forward and give it funding but
then block other things, it's outrageous.'
The film was released this weekend, meaning
Rodriguez now has about two months to submit it to the Texas Film
Commission.
The Commission's head Bob Hudgins, has to decide
whether to approve funds for the film, which was filmed in and
around the Texan city of Austin.
He recently told Texan media that he was nervous
about turning down the state's most prolific film
director.
However, he added: 'I have to make my determination
on the final version of the film. I have to be Switzerland about
it.'
Other Texan media appeared to be a bit more blas�
than Jones about the film's message.
A Fort Worth Star-Telegram review called the
directors 'nagging' over the immigration issue. It gave the film
four stars out of five.
A Houston Chronicle review merely noted
that the film 'involves illegal immigration', adding that Rodriguez
has insisted he's not trying to send a message.
The Huffington Post, meanwhile, called it
'huge fun', and 'one of the most purely entertaining movies to come
along in quite a while.'
Illegal immigration has become one of the troubling
flashpoint political issues heading in to November's mid-term
elections.
Arizona's controversial anti-immigration laws are
already attracting accusations of racism - as well as criticism
from the White House.
Meanwhile tensions festering in New York over plans
to build a mosque near Ground Zero are further fanning the flames
of xenophobia across the nation, causing many to revisit the
question of what it means to live in America - a country built on
immigration.
It all makes Machete timely - just one of several
reasons it is number two at the American box office, raking in
$14million since it opened on Friday.