Mexicans...

Mexico is not only portrayed as a desert... I hate the fact of seeing that whenever an american movie shows Mexico, you see little towns, very old cars, people traveling in donkeys, wearing hats etc, ok this is a part of Mexico but It makes foreinger people believe that Mexico is just like this. I´ve met some of those people who was very surprised to see how Mexico is for real I just can´t believe this,
Does American filmmakers has something against Mexico????
or they are just afraid of admitting that the US is not the only country with big cities, luxury cars, rich people, very big malls etc, etc...

BTW: Did u know that México city is considered the biggest city in THE WORLD.

Hi,
I saw this movie for the first time last night. I'm replying to the whole thread. I'm mixed ancestry with brown skin and born in Los Angeles - so I've been aware and a bit more sensitive to portrayal of varieties of countries and cultures. I am no expert, just slightly more aware than Jane-American-MovieGoer.

There is something you all might not be aware of in the commentary in the DVD. The director thought all the actors he found out of Mexico city with their interesting faces were beautiful. He thought the town was beautiful, too. I can see how he was playing into a pre-formed stereotype but he spoke much of using the realism of what he found already there partly because he started with a small budget that was made smaller after the big names of Julia Roberts and Brad Pitt signed. So, the chassis drivers, the guy walking down the street with the wheel, etc were things they found there and wove into the movie. And the desert haze and set designs were authentic to what they found there and he thought there was no way to duplicate them in Los Angeles studios. He was grateful to be able to find them and have Mexican artists recreate so of them for indoor sets in Mexico.

The director sounded in awe of the beauty of Mexico and the interesting, expressive faces he cast. It certainly didn't sound like he was casting for "ugly".

As for negative insulting stereotypes - there was the written story of the gunslinger. And that was supposed to be the main storyline contrasted by the Leroy/Winston/Jerry Las Vegas Americans and the Mexicans. By the end the guy whose foot is shot makes a speech in the tunnel which sums it up as kind of "we're all the same". The third layer is the flashbacks to all the gunslinging with "The Mexican" pistol itself. Sooo - I'm not seeing that as negative either.

I think they did a pretty good job of making the Americans look as bad as the Mexicans in this movie. Brad's character was a bumbling idiot. His bosses were mostly cruel. Only 2 guys were on the right track and they were one American working on behalf of the Mexican family.

I think they were careful to balance how bad the Mexican characters looked with how bad the Americans looked. And to me, Mexico looked beautiful. I didn't see any beauty shots of the US in this movie. I've always heard people talk about how beautiful they think the desert is and how awful cities are.