Bolivian Teocracy or small coup

"Mi nombre es Raúl Rubén La Fuente Velázquez, soy creyente, hijo de Dios. Y como coronel del ejército de Bolivia, restablezco un nuevo tiempo y entendimiento en las Fuerzas Armadas de Bolivia para cumplir su misión fundamental; defender y conservar la estabilidad, la seguridad y la independencia del Estado, el honor y soberanía del país, asegurar el cumplimiento de la constitución política del Estado. "Y hoy, revindico y consagro a las Fuerzas Armadas de Bolivia para Jesucristo".

Copy cat or cop buddy? The Mechanism as a José Padilha's self-portrait

The brazilian serie The Mechanism (Netflix), directed by José Padilha have a nice cast, good budget, careful production and relative creative freedom in these times when entertainment industry is becoming younger, reckeless and empty. To satisfy this industry, many works are mischaracterized. Characters change country, gender and profession; a pet that was not in the script could emerge as deus ex machina. Stereotypes of amorality and violence illustrates southern americans.And for that, Padilha is the right guy.

For some artists, dignity is not negotiable. For others, the control is bearable, OK, we add the dog. There is also a third group that portrays their own culture with platitudes of a north-american look. The effort for the colonizer's approval is paid in a closed-door meeting, where the terms of Mephistopheles are accepted one by one. Minutes later, a gorgeous filmmaker crosses the waiting room, filled with candidates for the pantheon, with a smile on his face.

José Padilha has expertise in Mondo Cane. Doesn’t have the literacy of Paulo Lins, the crudity of Peckimpah, the verve of Loach or the aesthetics of Tarantino. But intents to transforms violent TV shows in movies. He loves crimes and heroes, but especially crimes. His heroes are lawyers and policemen who act as templars of the authoritarian state on a divine mission. They live on the edge of reason, and this distemper is considered human complexity.

But there is no complexity in Padilha’s world. His dissatisfaction with “a corrupted system” doesn’t allow he thinks about the system itself. That is why the apologetic The Mechanism is based on books with titles like the megalomanous “Judge Sérgio Moro and the backstage of the operation that shook Brazil” (Vladimir Netto) and the forgetable “The fight against corruption: Lava Jato and the future of a country marked by impunity” (Deltan Dallagnol).

There are few technical defects in José Padilha's works. The locations and technical staff are fine, but the result is oblivion: his movies are functional and ideological, in a poor and violent universe of ruthless drug dealers, powerful businessmen, robotized cops and robot cops with incendiary and nihilistic speech. Average movies for average guys.

The Mechanism is juts like that. A revenge against left politicians that makes him more an internet hater than a film maker. His full-of-rage sub-elite manifests follow goebbelian paths that threatens society and arts in general and amuses a plethora of increasing fascists groups wich hate poors. 

He is a man of his time, knows himself as replaceable and will surf the conservative wave long as he can, enhancing hate and compromizing his artistic survival with a bunch of lies that makes The Mechanism a big fiasco. Time will tell if his raging manifest will generate more reflection than entertainment.

Would they kill them all?

The politician Marielle Franco was shot by Policia Federal bullets

The fascist swelling in Brazil is loud and clear, but international community didn't turn its concern into concrete actions.

Meanwhile, an abject elite supported by think tanks, plants hate speeches among a certain indebted racist under-schooling middle class. A plethora of liberals, small traders, conservative youth and government servants, believers in  the most popular and illusory brazilian dream: be accepted by the elite.

A week after the killing of Marielle Franco and Anderson Pedro by Federal Police's bullets in Rio de Janeiro, another brazilian activist was attacked by shots in Alter do Chão. Raoni Valle is archeologist and antropologist. As many other friends related to science, arts and politics in Brazil, struggles for social rights in a harmful place.

Nobody knows who's next.

Há algum veado aqui esta noite?
Ponham-no contra o muro!
Lá está um, no holofote, isso não me parece certo!
Ponham-nos contra o muro!
Aquele parece ser judeu! 
E aquele é um preto!!
Quem deixou toda essa escória entrar?
Tem um fumando maconha!
E outro com espinhas!
Se fosse à minha maneira...
Eu fuzilaria todos vocês!!

(Pink Foyd - In The Flesh)