Un día sin Méxicanos

The point of departure for Un día sin Méxicanos is as simple as it is educational and hilarious. The disaster that stops life in California is not an earthquake or power failure, but the sudden and mysterious disappearance of the whole Latino population. Sergio Arau and scriptwriter Yareli Arizmendi chose to put part of this into the form of a delightful mockumentary, and part in the form of small stories around characters who react to the surprising events. Originally conceived as a short film, the idea turned out to provide so much material that a full-length feature emerged, one that has now grown to be an enormous success in Mexico. Un día sin Méxicanos plays a clever game with switching point of view: sometimes we see the situation through the politically coloured spectacles of the media, then through the eyes of the film makers. In the wonderful opening scenes, we see how Mary Jo desperately tells her story about the sudden disappearance of her husband and children. In flashbacks, we hear about a right-wing senator, an anti-immigration activist and his liberal father and a TV reporter who has to emphasise her Latino origins for her producer. When the Latinos slip away via the mist-enshrouded Golden Gate Bridge, a battle for power ensues. (ID)