The key to enjoying this one is the word DREAM. I admire Arau for coming up with this great idea and going against everything and everybody to take it to the screen. I am happy this was not a Zapata biography. We've got several of those and they do a good job at telling the story and portraying that very important chapter of Mexican history. A biography was never Arau's intent. He took a historical character, added the myth that developed from the man and then mixed in his VERY PERSONAL idea. It didn't have to be Zapata. It could have been Moctezuma or Pancho Villa for that matter. What's important and groundbreaking about this movie IS NOT the fact that he picked Emiliano Zapata, but rather what Arau does with the personae of Zapata as he fictionalizes it to a point so surreal, so surreal indeed that Bunuel would have been proud. So people, get over the fact that it's not a biography and enjoy it for what it is: an entertaining adventure into Arau's creative mind. Oh, and for the record, both Alejandro Fernandez and Lucero do a good job. Lucero is an acquired taste, I'll admit that much, and I would have enjoyed her more if she had made an effort to BE in character as opposed to merely PLAY the character. Still, I liked her. I heard comments that she hadn't mastered the Iberian accent and, well, those comments are wrong. Lucero speaks as Iberian as they come. It would have been better if the script -her actual lines- had been better tailored to the time in which this story is supposed to take place. Her lines were too 21st century, and that part did suck. Arau, next time less "tu" and more "vosotros" will do the trick. And Alejandro shines. Who knew the hunk could act? But he does. I was VERY VERY VERY (get my point?) surprised. I was totally prepared to see a cardboardy performance and boy, was I ever mistaken! Alejandro is quite a treat. Camil is adequate as Eusebio and Ochoa as Huerta is just what you would expect evil Huerta to be. And the beautiful Patricia Velazquez manages to give her badly-written character some depth. I want to see her playing Frida some day. So anyway, all in all this movie will not be memorable, but it's an enjoyable hour and a half. In no way is this a waste of time and it most certainly is not the worst movie ever made. Those who gave this movie a bad review simply didn't get it. They wanted a history lesson, and they got an intelligent attempt at surreal cinema, no wonder they were unhappy! So go ahead and watch it if you can find it. Watch it with an open mind a welcoming heart and an art-hungry eye. You'll be pleasantly surprised.
Review of Zapata - El sueño del héroe
