La Zona

Mexico

Taut, engrossing thriller. A gated community in Mexico City, sealed off from the slums surrounding it, has three young men go over the fence to steal what they can from the richies. Things go badly...first for the teens, then for the vigilantes organized to hunt down the surviving kid...a 16 year old.

Moral questions abound here...not least of which is the gross disparity in resources in the two groups and the extremes the richies will go to to safeguard their privilege. Police corruption also rears its head...which makes a fair resolution impossible...for the poor at least.

The film brought home the savagery, the fear, the impunity of the privileged. Although the film doesn't come across as a polemic as it goes by you can't help but come to the conclusion that a society set up this way is guaranteeing trouble for itself. But nothing a little of the old ultra-violence can't cure.

Forceful, effective work.

7