WORLD TOUR Day 61 - Mexico/Texas border
BEFORE: Finally made it back to the U.S., only to dip down into Mexico again. Last night's film was something of a Western, though an exaggerated action-based one, I think tonight's film will be a little more sedate. And Ruben Blades carries over from "Once Upon a Time In Mexico", for good measure.
THE PLOT: Two Texas cowboys head to Mexico in search of work, but soon find themselves in trouble with the law after one of them falls in love with a wealthy rancher's daughter.
AFTER: This film seems to have flown under the radar for a long time - it wasn't a big hit in theaters, maybe because the plot is somewhat depressing and doesn't really conform to Hollywood conventions. But I say, neither does life, so this felt very possible, almost realistic - but that's often not what people want to see in theaters, as opposed to escapism.
It was also hard to get a handle on when the film is set - I determined later that the novel is set in 1949, and that's certainly possible. But there's a timeless element to it as well - there aren't a lot of cars or other modern conveniences seen in the film, but that could easily be attributed to the setting of rural Mexico. I can see both sides of the issue - not stating the year makes the film both elusive and all-encompassing at the same time.
Supposedly a cut of this film exists which is between three and four hours long, and the director (Billy Bob Thornton) was forced to cut an hour in order to achieve a releasable film. Perhaps that affected people's view of the film, and perhaps the characters would have been developed better with more time - then again, maybe not. Common sense dictates that the best stuff wouldn't have been cut, so the scenes edited out must have been sacrificed for a reason, one might think.
So I'm split down the middle on this one. Is the film slow-paced, or not? Depressing, or just realistic? I do applaud a non-traditional depiction of a romance - so many times Hollywood tends to over-simplify relationships. People are together, that's good - they split up, that's bad. But when is that not the case? Not every couple is cut out to stay together, after all.
Roy Orbison sang, "In the real world, we must say real goodbyes." And this was from a guy who knew a thing or two about it. Show me the couple, anywhere, who lived "happily EVER after". That "ever" is a real sticking point, isn't it? When circumstances, internal or external, prevent a couple from functioning further as a unit, the true test of love is often: do you love this person enough to let them go? And if not, do you want them to remain for the right reasons, or for purely selfish ones?
Also starring Matt Damon (last seen in "Hereafter"), Henry Thomas (last seen in "Legends of the Fall"), Penelope Cruz (last seen in "Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides"), Lucas Black (last seen in "Legion"), Julio Oscar Mechuso (also carrying over from "Once Upon a Time in Mexico"), with cameos from Sam Shepard (last seen in "Thunderheart"), Robert Patrick (last seen in "Flags of Our Fathers"), Bruce Dern (last seen in "Black Sunday").
DISTANCE TRAVELED TODAY: 1,181 miles / 1,902 km (Mexico City, Mexico to San Angelo, Texas, then to Cuatro Cienagas, Mexico)
DISTANCE TRAVELED SO FAR: 46,646 miles / 75,071 km
RATING: 5 out of 10 broncos
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