Highly Overrated But Still Good

Good concept, poorly executed.

n my opinion it was a great movie with some interesting elements, even though having some plot holes and the ending probably was just too messy and crammed together, but still fun to watch and not your casual movie that is similar to all other ones.

The performances transcend the film's tropes, grounding it in characters that feel more complete than this subgenre often produces.

At the risk of being wrong, I would say that production in the world film industry is mostly run by the high and medium social strata, with little creative input from the lower class. The middle and high class filmmakers may "starve" (for lack of material means to produce, not food) while they make their way, but once they enter the industry –as image makers for advertisement, television, film or new media- they frequently adopt a too comfortable vision of existence. This approach prevails when they deal with delicate social subjects, as the one Rodrigo Pla tackles in "La Zona", which has the certain value of being one of few films describing the potential violent relations between persons who live walled in exclusive and closed residential complexes, and people who live outside in marginal communities that surround the gated crowd, as in this case. Three poor guys cross the wall of La Zona to steal. Two die, one hides in a family house. Next a "Zonian" teenager finds the one hiding inside his house. For me, the merits of this film end here. Although Pla describes the fascistic tendencies of civil defense and police force, flirts with hyper-violence and adds a gram of science-fiction, this humorless film (and the situation was open to it and much more) opts for a melodrama formula, a tale of the "bad consciousness" type, and in the third act it never recovers. I do not know if the uncontrolled sappiness is a cultural trait of Mexicans, but as used by the filmmakers it has been the cause of much imbalance in many motion pictures, from the works of El Indio Fernández ("María Candelaria") to Iñárritu ("Amores perros"). From the moment the walled teenager's heart softens and he tries to become the savior of the young thief, "La Zona" follows the usual path of melodrama, with servile score that overemphasizes what is obvious. The cardboard characters grow stiffer, Daniel Giménez Cacho handles one of the most embarrassing scenes, in front of a TV set (Maribel Verdú is thankfully in the background and out of focus) and the ironic final shot of the ex-walled and temporarily liberated teenager eating tacos in the corner of a popular barrio, functions as a little scolding to the middle class adults who protect their small privileges to provide a gift (or borrowed) life to kids as the taco-eater, but above anything else as a wimpish validation of the kid's "courage" who, when the lights of the cine go up, will return in his comfortable 4X4 to pa's home in La Zona. And from there… we go back to the first shots of a little (symbolic?) butterfly, flying beyond the wall… Watch it, but wear glasses.

This review's title is a memorable quote delivered by Professor Alan Monroe (played by Robert Kerman) in the notorious and infamous horror film "Cannibal Holocaust" about what happened to the filmmakers that disappeared in the jungle while filming a documentary about "Uncivilized" nations and their behavior. The similarity between "Cannibal Holocaust" and "La Zona" is that both films tell stories about the decadence of supposedly civilized societies and the way "civilized" people behave in situation of danger.La Zona is an enclosed and wealth neighborhood in Mexico that has its peace disturbed after two events: a pole fell in one of the walls of the place leaving the whole neighborhood without electricity and without the surveillance cameras that films everything that occurs around it. When that pole fell down three thieves entered in the neighborhood and they tried to steal one of the houses, but they got caught by the owner, an old lady who threats them with a gun. One of the thieves attacked the lady and then the camera moves forward and we know that she was killed, a security guard was accidentally killed by one the residents and two of the thieves were murdered by the neighbors during the escape. One of the residents called the police after hearing a shot but a group of residents decide that the whole event was a mistake claiming that the shot was on the other side of the fence, an enormous and poor neighborhood. Everything I mentioned here happened in the first 10 minutes of movie. The main plot of the film is the union of supposed civilized people against the thief that managed to escape but got trapped in the neighborhood. The residents decide that the police must not know what happened and they got to find the thief and kill him, and make justice with their own hands. Alejandro (Daniel Tovar) is a teenage boy, son of one the leaders of the team that wants to catch the thief, and he's excited with everything that's happening and he also wants to catch this guy. One night he discovers that the thief is hidden in the basement of his house but he doesn't delivers him to the residents after he finds out that the thief is an innocent teenage boy just like him. Alejandro's reaction might surprise you but we had the chance to know that he's only trying to get more perspective on the subject. Why his father and the other residents wants to catch and kill the thief? Does that teen killed a woman?Alejandro works as the audience's conscious, and so does his mother and some of the residents opponents to this hunt. But that doesn't mean he's a likable character, after all there's no such thing here in this movie. Just when you think you're starting to like some of the characters someone does something that you might dislike or hate it. One example of that thesis is the chief of police (Mario Zaragoza) that investigates what happened at La Zona. He's a tough guy surrounded by deep problems, his chief's always trying to keep away of the residents of La Zona claiming that they're influential people that don't like to be bothered. He knows that's something is wrong and he starts to investigate. He becomes a hateful character after many decisions he starts to made when his investigation is becoming a failure. Director Rodrigo Plá made here a powerful and shocking statement over the "civilized" people and their so called acts of superiority towards the poor. When they want to make the chief of police go away the residents think that offer him money would help. Wrong. By making justice with their own hands and trying to act like a punisher in order to sustain security and peace in the neighborhood residents only make things worst even punishing the residents that were opposed to the thief's chase. Here it was proved that police won't help even if they want it, the security of the place won't help when people needed most (when the power went down and the pole fell on the wall no one appeared to see what happened and no one saw the thieves coming in). It also has a disguised critic of countries where common people can bear guns without knowing how to use it. For instance when one of the residents accidentally shot a security guard (this scene isn't showed in the movie). This a proof that educated people (the residents) can make worst things when they want to be equal as the poor thieves presented here. Who were the savages? Us or the thieves? I'm not defending the thieves, they did it bad things too, but when a solution is offered and you refuse it by acting like the ones who harmed you you're doing wrong too and you're doing worst and dangerously.Thrilling, involving, thought provoking, "La Zona" is a movie to be debated not only because of this subject, but also because of the way it handled with the subject. I don't know if in Mexico it was considered an art film or a Blockbuster hit, but I know that if Hollywood wanted to make a remake it would be way different of what it is, with more action, more likable characters and certainly the ending would be different. I'll spoil the fun a little bit: the thief kid is caught by the residents (I won't say what happens to him, but it's something to be reminded over and over again for those who got different perspectives about what was said in this review). If this story has proximity with reality I really can't say, but it made me think about the place where I live. What would happen if something similar happened here? I can think of many answers but let's try to make this reality only present in the movies. 10/10

There is nothing wrong with the synopsis, the "gated community" - dilemma could be delivered with a twist like this, no doubt. But the problem is how it is executed.There is not one character here with any kind of depth whatsoever. Its all one-dimensional cardboard-pieces responding to some really incoherent twists of the plot.The dialogue is embarrassingly bad sometimes and the actors fight to get some kind of guidance in their performances. The story kind of wants to be both drama and suspense-thriller but fails on both parts.Not that a drama cant be in the vein of a thriller and vice versa. (Check out Buenos Aires 1977 for some chilling thrills and high drama.)The stage is great though. The scenes of the clean cut streets clashing with the outside slums is alone thought-provoking. And the watchful eye of the surveillance-camera is perhaps tiresome by now but never the less effective here. But thats hardly a reason to spend time and money on this shoddy piece.

La Zona is one of those rare films which grips you from the start and doesn't let go till the end credits roll up. It is also a rare example of a thriller and social drama which delivers on both fronts.La Zona are residential compounds in Mexico for the rich and the affluent. They have their own security system and guards and even law, thus separating them from the normal law of the land. These "zones" are real and do exist in Mexico city. The one depicted in the film is separated from the slum neighbourhood by large concrete walls and barbed wire. An accident causes one of the power pylons next to the Zone to collapse thus paving an entry for three young petty thieves from the slums to enter the Zone to make a quick burglary. Things go wrong, however, and two of the boys are shot dead while the third manages to escape from the burgled house but not from the zone.We then follow the search for the boy, by the residents (who intend to kill him) and the cops, who are mostly corrupt ready to turn a blind eye for the right sum. The Zone is a superbly tense thriller and a damning indictment of the social system in Mexico. The residents in these zones appear to be totally cut off from the reality outside; a nice contrast is a golf course inside the Zone from which the players get a panoramic view of the slums.It is hard to believe that this is the feature debut of its director Rodrigo Pla. It's one of the most accomplished feature debuts that I have ever seen and you can be certain that Rodrigo Pla's name is going to be much better known in the coming years.