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LA ZONA
LA ZONA
Winner of the Fipresci Critics Prize at the 2007
Toronto Film Festival
Rodrigo Plá's feature début is a
taut social thriller that brutally
reveals the dangers of the growing
polarisation between the have and
have-nots in Mexico - and indeed
- so many other Latin American
countries.
Alejandro (Daniel Tovar) is
part of the privileged minority.
The teenager lives with his
parents, Daniel (Daniel Giménez
Cacho) and Mariana (Maribel
Verdú) in 'La Zona', an enclosed
neighborhood monitored by
closed-circuit cameras. Ruled by
fear, the residents have essentially
renounced their privacy and
trapped themselves in an exclusive
prison. However, when a group of
disadvantaged teenagers manages
to break in, that security blanket is
threatened and the residents reveal
how far they will go to protect their
community. And when Alejandro
discovers one of the burglars,
Miguel (Alan Chávez), hiding in his
family's basement, he unexpectedly
finds himself torn between loyalty
to his family and friends and his
empathy for a poor petty thief and
suspected murderer.
Plá's film is a remarkable study
of two Mexicos, mutually suspicious
of each other, and it offers a
telling warning of the dangers of
segregation in all its shapes and
forms.
Spain/Mexico, Thriller, 97 minutes, 2007. (18+)
Director: Rodrigo Plá
With: Daniel Tovar, Maribel Verdú,
Daniel Jiménez-Cacho
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