By Jeffrey Sipe and Nina Rodriguez
Mexico’s independent cinema usually embraces a social realism that its mainstream counterpart ignores. “ColOZio,” artist and filmmaker Artemio Narro’s 2020 take on a madcap attempt to prevent the 1994 assassination of lawmaker Luis Donaldo Colosio, upends that tradition.
“ColOZio” is gleefully ironic from start to finish, even in the credits which appear 20 minutes into the film. Instead of the traditional “A film by” followed by the director’s name, ColOZio’s “Una pelicula de” is followed by at least a dozen names, none of which are the director’s. In fact, “Artemio Narro” only appears on-screen near the end of the credits sequence under the heading “A pesar de” (In spite of).
Set in 1994, the film revolves around a mad-cap quest to prevent the assassination of Luis Donaldo Colosio, the PRI heir-apparent to the presidency of Carlos Salinas de Gortari. His expected ascension has prompted much of Mexico to anticipate major changes in their personal lives, with bourgeois wannabes already charting new career paths. One partygoer informs a friend that he has met with a friend of a friend of a friend of a friend of a friend of a friend of a friend of one of Colosio’s bodyguards who has guaranteed him a spot in the new administration. “I’ll bring you with me,” he tells his friend.
Across town, two young stoners have just dropped acid. While watching the news on TV, they learn that Colosio will be assassinated at a campaign rally in Tijuana in three days. Tripped out, the duo decides what they both saw and heard was real and not a hallucination. They steal a car, unwittingly kidnapping its owner who is asleep in the back seat, and head for Tijuana to stop the assassination, an act that they expect will bring them national praise for their bravery and patriotic fervor.
In other words, despite Colosio’s lofty rhetoric about a new Mexico, his potential constituents’ concerns are focused only on themselves. Even the title, “ColOZio” is designed to reflect that as Narro has explained that each of his characters sees the possibility of saving Mexican politics while winning something for themselves, not unlike the characters that accompany Dorothy in “The Wizard of Oz.”
And it’s not just Oz. The drive to Tijuana is literally an odyssey that includes encounters with characters from Greek mythology as well as Shakespearean witches. Indeed, tweaking the classics is a Narro trademark. His recent paintings have included reproductions of historical works devoid of all visuals but blood.
Ultimately, what is “ColOZio” all about? Is it not a depiction of contemporary Mexico’s contradictory character, its strengths and weaknesses? According to Narro, it is “an alternate version of the assassination from the eyes of two young people without much craft or benefit to which they are joined by a third loser.” That, perhaps, is the final and all-encompassing irony of Narro and “ColOZio.”
A free outdoor screening of “ColOZio” will be held at Compartimento Cinematográfico, Calzada de la Estación 59, this Wednesday, October 26, as part of GIFF’s “Más Cine Mexicano, por favor” series.
Trailer: https://vimeo.com/378900041
