Latin American Cinema - Coursework Example

Latin American Cinema - Cronos Guillermo Del Toros debut feature film Cronos is a modern take on the ic vampire myth. To provide a brief overview Cronos tells the story of Jesus Gris, an elderly antiques dealer who discovers an unusual insect shaped device inside a statue of an angel. Unknowingly to Gris, this medieval device grants the user eternal life and an ailing local businessman, Dieter De La Guardia, aware of this secret, will stop at nothing to retrieve it. After using the cronos device, Jesus is amazed by its ability to rejuvenate his body and is consequently unwilling to relinquish it to Dieter, despite the many confrontations with his thuggish nephew, Angel. In Cronos, Del Toro presents us with a unique representation of time and death, religion, politics and the influence of North America, all of which will be discussed in this essay. The title Cronos is significant in the context of the film, reminiscent of the ancient Greek literary personification of time (Guerber, 1993, p. 8), reinforcing the centrality of the concept of time in the film. Del Toro has also alluded to the importance of time and that each character has a unique and personal relationship with it. Dieter is so conscious of time and it appears as a major stress in his life. He tries to both reduce and extend time; he is anxious to minimise the amount of time spent looking for the cronos device yet the cronos device will give him what he wants the most, extra time on earth (Wood, 2006, p. 35). In his first meeting with Jesus, Dieter illustrates his desperation to prolong the amount of time left with the list of the many therapies he has undergone. Mercedes has an interesting relationship with time, for her it ticks on as her youth passes her by. It is time-related vanity which leads her to complain about not fitting into a dress she wore in the previous year (Wood, 2006, p. 35). We hear her ask “How could I change so much in such a short time.” This is particularly important when considered with the Anglo-American conception of Mexicans and time. It has been suggested that they have a “mañana attitude” towards getting things done,that they would rather take things easy and have a siesta (Gritzner, 2006, p. 115). Perhaps the preoccupation with time on the characters behalf in Cronos is a subtle way for Del Toro to ridicule and ultimately shatter this Mexican stereotype. Time, however, is also literally present in Cronos, from the tick-tocks of the opening scene to the numerous wall clocks in the antiques shop. The New Year countdown may be a time of celebration for the party-goers but for Jesus, it coincides with a deadly attack from Angel. As Del Toro has commented, only Aurora is ignorant to time, for her it is a meaningless concept to her innocence (Wood, 2006, p. 35). As Cronos is made in Mexico and by a Mexican, we might assume that the representations of death are influenced by Mexican religion and culture. According to Roman Catholicism, the dominant religion in Mexico, death is not something to be feared, providing one has lived a good life. The Church teaches that with death comes the promise of resurrection and eternal life (Buckley et al, 2007). Similarly, the famous Mexican Day of the Dead celebrations suggests that Mexican people are not pessimistic about death; once a year their souls will return to enjoy the pleasures of life (Carmichael & Sayer, 2007, p.9). However, the preoccupation with time and death in Cronos suggests a different attitude to these outsider expectations. Del Toro shows us different realities associated with death. The hanging corpse in the Alchemists house and Jesus rotting flesh are not just standard horror film features. Del Toro is deliberately using them to say that death is not as graceful or as pretty as religion or culture lead us to think. In this respect it is easy to see why so many of the character are afraid of death. (With the exception of Angel, for whom the death of his uncle would release him from his life of servitude.) But we also see that eternal life, the alternative to death, is not as fantastic as might be expected; despite living for hundreds of years, the alchemist lives life as a recluse, without friends and family (Wood, p. 35). Similarly, the infamous bathroom scene, where Jesus licks a strangers blood from the floor, also reinforces this notion. It is this degradation which leads to Jesus to embrace death by smashing up the cronos device. There are direct references, however, to Roman Catholicism throughout the film, no doubt inspired by by Del Toros Catholic upbringing (Woods, p. 33). The cronos device is hidden in an angel statue, arguably a metaphor for resurrection and it s not accidental that the central character – Jesus – is the one who experiences this resurrection, albeit not in the traditional, Catholic sense of the term (Film4). At its heart, Cronos is a modern retelling of the vampire myth. Del Toro takes popular images of the vampire and turns them on their head. By setting the story in the midst of an average Mexican family (Selavy, 2007), he is able to humanise the myth. For the first time in film history, the vampire itself not a scary monster, but an old man with white hair (Maslin, 1994). In addition, the vampire myth is a mesh of death, resurrection and horror. It is not a Mexican myth; the very subject demonstrates the influence of American and European culture on Latin America. It was, in fact, an episode of the American show The Outer Limits which inspired Del Toro to make the film (Harrington, 1994). It is testament to such influences that the film is a mixture of English and Spanish. Notably Jesus appears to be fluent in his understanding of English but he only ever speaks in Spanish. Coupled with this, Del Toros use of multilingual street signs suggests that Mexico is a busy, vibrant metropolis. (Note the sharp contrast of this scene with the films historical opening and later with the dark, dated antiques shop.) Del Toros choice of casting in the central roles – an Argentinian and an American – also reinforce the strength of foreign influences on modern Mexico. Returning to concept of the vampire myth, this works on several levels in Cronos. Aside from Jesus literal transformation, there is the exploitative relationship between Dieter and his nephew (Wood, p. 34). Angel is in a position of submission, compelled to carry out all manner of tasks on his uncles behalf, from taking meals to stealing, any time of night or day. On a wider level, Cronos can also be regarded as representative of Americas vampiric relationship to Mexico (Selavy, 2007). Del Toro deliberately set the film in 1997, in a post-NAFTA (North American Free Trade Agreement) Mexico (Wood, p. 34). Many Mexicans have argued that NAFTA has had several negative effects on Mexico, such as minimal economic growth and high rates of unemployment, while America has greatly benefited (Teslik, 2009).It is therefore, perhaps, a deliberate intention that Jesus, a Mexican, overcomes the greed of the American De La Guardia family. To conclude, Cronos is much more than a standard vampire film. Del Toro has humanised the story, setting it within the context of an everyday Mexican family, where the vampire is an elderly, white-haired man. The foreign influences on Cronos are numerous and easy to see, from the casting choices to the languages, and portray a modern, globalized Mexico. Finally, we should view Cronos in the context of the North American Free Trade Agreement which has economically disadvantaged Mexico and its people. References Buckley J, Bauerschmidt F & Pomplum T. The Blackwell Companion To Catholicism. Oxford: Blackwell. 2007. Print Carmichael E and Sayer C. The Skeleton At The Feast: The Day Of The Dead In Mexico. Texas: UTP. 2003. Print. Council On Foreign Relations. NAFTAs Economic Impact. By Lee Hudson Teslik. July 7 2009. Web. (Accessed March 11 2010). Cronos. Dir. Guillermo Del Toro. Perf. Federico Luppi, Ron Perlman, Claudio Brook. 1993. Film. Film4. “Review.” www.film4.com/reviews/1993/cronos. (Accessed March 11 2010). Gritzner C. Mexico. Philadelphia: Chelsea House, 2006. Print Guerber H. The Myths Of Greece & Rome. New York: Dover, 1993. Print. Harrington R. “Cronos.” Rev. of Cronos, by Guillermo Del Toro. Washington Post May 22 1994. Print. Maslin, J. “Review/Film Festival; Undead Again; A Suave Vampire.” Rev. of Cronos, by Guillermo Del Toro. The New York Times March 24 1994. Print. Selavy V. “Guillermo Del Toro: Three Twisted Fairy Tales.” Rev. of. Cronos, by Guillermo Del Toro. Electric Sheep March 4 2007. Print. Wood J. Talking Movies: Contemporary World Filmmakers In Interview. London: Wallflower Press, 2006. Print. Read More