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The Perfect Dictatorship
2014 Mexican film From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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The Perfect Dictatorship (Spanish: La dictadura perfecta) is a 2014 Mexican black comedy political satire film, written, produced and directed by Luis Estrada and starring Damián Alcázar, Alfonso Herrera, Joaquín Cosío, Dagoberto Gama, María Rojo and Salvador Sánchez. Cast also includes Osvaldo Benavides, Saúl Lisazo, Tony Dalton, Arath de la Torre, Sergio Mayer and Itatí Cantoral. It was released on October 16, 2014, and represented Mexico at the 2015 Goya Awards.[1][2]
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The film title is a reference to a famous statement by Peruvian Nobel laureate Mario Vargas Llosa that he used to describe the continuous governments of the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI), which dominated politics in Mexico for much of the 20th century.[3] The plot is loosely based on the real life perceived Televisa controversy, which consisted of Mexican citizens heavily perceiving the news media was unfairly favoring PRI candidate Enrique Peña Nieto during the 2012 presidential election in Mexico.[4]
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Plot
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The President of Mexico (based on Enrique Peña Nieto) is accepting the credential cards of the new United States Ambassador. During his speech he unexpectedly says a racist statement that becomes viral.
That same day officers of the Mexican government urges Television Mexicana, the most powerful television corporation, to create a media distraction by disclosing a scandalous story involving Governor Carmelo Vargas (Damián Alcazar) by showing a video where the Governor is accepting bribes from drug lords so the public turn their attention from the presidential situation and to Governor Vargas scandal.
Governor Vargas decides to negotiate with Televisión Mexicana to clean his image as he addresses that its stellar newscast 24 horas en 30 minutos (24 hours in 30 minutes) is the only news source where the Mexican public can rely more than the internet or other TV shows.
TV MX's news producer Carlos Rojo and star reporter Ricardo Diaz are sent to meet Vargas and begin to show the good work the Governor had done in his state, just to be received by members of a drug cartel, that were sent by the Governor to protect them and even ask them to take a group picture with Diaz. Rojo also meet a leader of the opposition party, Agustin Morales, who urges him to show the problems Vargas is making in the communities. However, while going to ask Congress for the Governor's resignation, Morales is nearly assassinated. Seeing the danger of going against the drug lords, Rojo decides to continue to find news that would improve the image of Vargas instead.
Meanwhile, Ana and Elena Garza, a couple of twins, are kidnapped when their nanny is distracted. The information goes to the State Police and TV MX decides to cover the situation in the newscast by making the parents of the children, Lucia and Salvador, sign a contract to ensure that they only provide information to TV MX while Carmelo Vargas sent some detectives to fake some interest in the case. The following of the news in 24 Horas en 30 minutos gets the full attention of the audiences to the point that is getting the same ratings than the telenovela Los Pobres Tambien Aman (a parody for Los Ricos Tambien Lloran) while covering all the injustices that are being committed.
Recovered from the attempt on his life, Agustin Morales obtains contracts from the Governor's spokesman and godson about the relationship between TV MX with the governor, so Morales goes with Rojo to ask him to have 10 minutes in the newscast. Rojo asks his boss, Jose Hartman, about it while concerned about the information Morales has, but he gets the authorization. Meanwhile, Vargas learns about what his spokesman did, so he personally kills his godson in front of Carlos. Meanwhile when Morales is being interviewed, the newscast shows falsified evidence implicating his work as violating and corrupting children. Morales felt his image is being damaged and get angry so he is removed from the studio. Later in his hotel, Morales tries to record a video to defend himself from the false evidence but is killed, something that is managed as a suicide by both the Government and TV MX.
When a witness recognizes who kidnapped the children, TV MX changes their strategy and begin in the newscast to ask the people to send donations to the foundation "Si Se puede" (Yes We Can), so the money can be used to pay for the ransom the kidnappers are asking (one million dollars), even to the point of the governor himself donating a high sum (while asking Rojo a favor in exchange). However, Doña Chole, a member of the kidnappers, decides to bring the twins to the police and the Garza family decides to not give any more interviews to TV MX, leaving their reporting unfinished. So TV MX decides to make a fake montage over an operation of the government to rescue the girls and finally give the ending the people wanted to see, putting Vargas as a hero and the Garza family supporting his heroic actions.
After the president congratulates Vargas for his actions, then he is asked about the rise of the prices in the basic products, he answers "I am not the Mistress in my house" and he is not able to predict the real impact on familiar economies. This puts the host, Perez Harris, to burst in a big laugh, so the newscast is stopped and Perez Harris is detained by the government agents.
The next day, Ricardo becomes the host of the newscast and he receives the note from Rojo that he needs to input very urgent news to remove attention over the last President´s mistake by announcing the visit of the Pope Francis to Mexico. Meanwhile the commercials shows the unity of the nation and Vargas decides to run for President while marrying Jazmin, the star of Los Pobres Tambien Aman (and former girlfriend of Rojo, the favor he asked).
Two years later, we learn that Vargas put together the most important politic parties of the time (PAN, PRI, PRD) to win the elections making Jazmin the First Lady, while the Garza twins sign a contract with TV MX to be the stars of the newest telenovela.
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Cast
- Damián Alcázar as Governor Carmelo Vargas
- Alfonso Herrera as Producer Carlos Rojo
- Joaquín Cosío as Congressman Agustín Morales
- Osvaldo Benavides as Ricardo Díaz
- Silvia Navarro as Lucía de Garza
- Flavio Medina as Salvador Garza
- Saúl Lisazo as TV MX news anchor
- Tony Dalton as Director of TV MX (Pepe)
- Salvador Sánchez as X Man
- Enrique Arreola as Government Secretary
- Arath de la Torre as Speaker Poncho
- Dagoberto Gama as Mexico's Attorney General
- Noé Hernández as Chief of Security
- Sonia Couoh as Nana
- María Rojo as Doña Chole
- Luis Fernando Peña as El Chamoy
- Gustavo Sánchez Parra as El Charro
- Sergio Mayer as the President of Mexico
- Hernán Mendoza as El Mazacote
- Livia Brito as Jazmín
- Itatí Cantoral as Lucrecia Lascuráin
- Roger Cudney as Ambassador of the United States
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Reception
The film has grossed over MXN$188.16 million in Mexico, making it the eighth highest-grossing Mexican film of all time.[5][6]
Awards and nominations
Ariel Awards
The Ariel Awards are awarded annually by the Mexican Academy of Film Arts and Sciences in Mexico. La Dictadura Perfecta received 10 nominations.[7]
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References
External links
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