“This name I can say” said Guillermo del Toro when opening the result for Best Director last night. Everyone knew this meant that his friend, Alfonso Cuarón, was going to take home his 2nd Oscar for Best Director. He was to give The New Mexican Cinema its fifth win in the past six years. Several hours later, America’s President was tweeting about the “State of Emergency at the Southern Border” and the need for the construction of the Wall.
The push from Donald Trump to create a solid wall dividing the nations is being fought back with a cultural attack from the Mexican border. Hollywood supports this idea and shows that cultural diversity is stronger than a president’s whim. Del Toro’s words from his acceptance speech last year still ring true: “the greatest thing art does and our industry does is to erase the lines in the sand. We should continue doing that when the world tells us to make them deeper.”
Cuarón started the trend for the Mexican Oscars in 2013 with Gravity. His long-time friend followed: Alejandro Inarritu won two years in a row with Birdman (2014) and The Revenant (2015). Last year, Guillermo del Toro took home the Best Director Oscar for The Shape of Water and became the third Mexican-born filmmaker to win the award. The group described as “The Three Amigos” in Hollywood proves that the movie industry is enriched by ethnic diversity. But what makes Mexican directors so likeable?
All three of them started around the same time in 1990s, came from similar backgrounds and then moved to Hollywood to challenge cinematic norms. Each of their films seem to say “think outside the box”. Gravity subverts the geometry of film making, Birdman is an experiment in the long-take shot while The Shape of Water mixes sci-fi with fairy-tale storytelling. This year, Roma contests cinema in itself by its release on Netflix, its play on sound and powerful black and white cinematography.
The Amigos are simply winning because they represent the strength of solidarity; long-time friends who have encouraged one another to take risks and challenge preconceived notions. They tell America and the world that with thought-process and creativity, there is something more to show and tell compared to what you already see.
