Film festival shows contrasts of Mexico's drug war

[October 18, 2010]  MORELIA, Mexico (AP) -- From afar it seems like Baghdad: car bombs, beheadings and corrupt politicians.

Up close, Mexico remains magical and picturesque in parts, feeling oddly safe even in some of the hardest-fought territories of the drug war.

The eighth annual International Film Festival opened Saturday in the drug-plagued state of Michoacan to its largest turnout ever, drawing the contrast that defines Mexico today. Film-lovers lingered in sidewalk cafes and strolled along colonial archways and cobblestone streets doused in temperature-perfect sunshine.

Only blocks from the site where a 2008 grenade attack killed eight people, hundreds lined the red carpet to squeal at one of Hollywood's leading men, Oscar-winning Spanish actor Javier Bardem. Unlike the Jonas Brothers in the drug-war-ravaged city of Monterrey, no one canceled -- organizers say -- for a festival that also features Hollywood blockbuster director Robert Rodriguez and Monty Python funnyman-turned-director Terry Gilliam.

"I think with Telluride in the U.S., this is the best festival in the world," said Hollywood producer Michael Fitzgerald, who called the drug violence "a parallel universe that none of us ever see."

"I've had to convince people in the U.S. who have heard all this nonsense to come here, and now they come every year," said Fitzgerald, who has been a juror and shown films at the festival such as "The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada" starring Tommy Lee Jones.

The home state of President Felipe Calderon, Michoacan is the first place he sent troops after taking office and announcing a crackdown on organized crime. It's a state largely controlled by the vicious yet devout La Familia (the Family) cartel, which made its debut by tossing heads onto a disco floor in 2006 just 60 miles (100 kilometers) from Morelia in Uruapan.

Politicians are under attack, on the take or both. The Calderon government arrested 35 state public officials last year on charges of ties to La Familia, only to suffer the embarrassment of seeing judges release all but one for lack of evidence. One of Michoacan's elected congressmen, under indictment for aiding La Familia, sneaked into his swearing to gain immunity awarded to elected officials in Mexico.

Last week a radio station aired a recorded telephone call allegedly between the lawmaker and La Familia cartel leader Servando Gomez, known as "La Tuta."

Mexican director Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu acknowledged that his homeland is suffering as he introduced "Biutiful," filmed in Barcelona, to an auditorium full of people in cocktail attire inaugurating the festival.

"This is a festival of heart, of warm people," said the director of "Babel" and "Amores Perros." "In a moment that is very difficult for our country, we are here to give space to culture."

The festival continues to climb the ladder of prestige to sit beside Sundance, Toronto or Cannes. Starting three years ago, its prizewinning short films have been eligible to compete for Oscars.

Morelia resident Salvador Diaz, 32, agrees it has grown in terms of the quality of the films and star power. He also lives the contrast, acknowledging his state is in trouble, but saying that he can still take a Saturday afternoon spin with his motorcycle club and escort his wife to see Bardem in a film festival opening without incident.

"Our life is normal," Diaz said. "The people of Michoacan are very hardworking. No, our political and security situations are not adequate, but we're moving forward."

The festival was heavily patrolled by soldiers in 2008 and 2009 after the grenade attack, but none are visible this year.

Instead, it has been a chance to show another face of Mexico and another leading family of Michoacan: Lazaro Cardenas, grandson of a beloved, iron-fisted president of the same name, is vice president of the festival and inaugurated the renovated Teatro Emperador Caltzontzin in nearby Patzcuaro Friday night.

He called it a special place because it was built under his grandfather's presidency from 1936 to 1940. The theater reopened with a showing of the 1948 Mexican classic, "Maclovia," starring Maria Felix in a story about the virtues of the indigenous people of Michoacan.

His father, former presidential candidate and Mexico City Mayor Cuauhtemoc Cardenas, also attended the opening events.

"We have information that in some small towns, daily life is ruled by organized crime," he said. "But that's not the case in Morelia. With cultural events like this, the atmosphere is calm and comfortable."

[Associated Press; By KATHERINE CORCORAN]

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