La Zona
Director: Rodrigo Piá
starring: Maribel Verdú, Daniel Tovar, Carlos Bardem
Runtime: 97 mins
Rating: ***
Directorial debutant Rodrigo Plá emerges as the latest player in the burgeoning Mexican filmmaking scene with his charged thriller La Zona. We are met with the pristine properties and smartly uniformed school children of Mexican suburbia within ‘the zone’ – a gated community isolated from the slums that surround it by towering walls, a myriad of security guards and extensive CCTV.
All seems a little too flawless. The action really kickstarts when three thieves manage to infiltrate the zone. What ensues is a botched robbery leaving an old lady and two of the robbers dead. Miguel, the only surviving criminal, is trapped within the zone as a manhunt begins.
La Zona is a critique of a divided Mexican society, serving as a warning as to the dangers of separating different classes of people from each other. However, the director’s insistence on this portrayal somewhat limits the strength and novelty of the actual story, though the intensity and sheer darkness does maintain interest throughout. On top of this, some of the action, particularly the chase scenes, are really well done.
Alan Chávez stands out playing the fearful teenager trapped within the zone’s fortifications, and the acting is strong throughout. The direction and cinematography is truly fantastic, with Pla’s use of CCTV-style footage creating a sense of entrapment.
La Zona provides a gritty and bleak story and will certainly not suit all tastes, though the ambience evoked throughout definitely justifies a viewing. The film picked up ‘Best Debut Feature’ at the Venice Film Festival and has enough fluorishes to suggest Plá could follow fellow Mexican Filmmaker Alejandro González Iñárritu (21 grams, Amores Perros) in making an impact on film internationally.
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