father son relationship

1

Flies (Mexico) – Caught in the Mexican Healthcare System

Flies Film Difficulty Ranking: 2

Flies is a warm-hearted drama set in Mexico City that follows a grumpy old woman and a young boy both tangled in the web of the Mexican healthcare system. Watch it if you’re a fan of arcade games (a form of Space Invaders plays a significant part in the narrative), to navigate the brutalist buildings of Mexico City through the eyes of a 9 year-old, or if you’re simply a fan of modern Mexican films shot in black and white (see Roma, Gueros, or We Shall Not Be Moved).

From: Mexico, North America
Watch: IMDb, Trailer
Next: We Shall Not Be Moved, Gueros, Death of Mr. Lazarescu

Flies – The Breakdown

I was a little worried that this film was going to be a bit too loyal to its title. Five minutes in and all you’ve seen is an old lady (Olga) trying to swat a fly buzzing around her apartment. Breaking Bad had a 47-minute episode directed by Rian Johnson which follows the main characters trying to kill a fly in the meth lab for the majority of the episode, so my fear wasn’t unfounded. Luckily, the film soon introduces Cristian and his dad, who are looking for a place to stay in the city while his mum is in hospital.

The faults of the Mexican healthcare system bring Olga and Cristian together. Olga has just put a room in her apartment up for rent because she needs money to afford to remove her bunions. Meanwhile, Cristian and his dad need a cheap place to stay in the city whilst his mum is in hospital. They’re far from home, most likely because the specialists she needs can only be found in Mexico City. The same faults of the Mexican healthcare system also fuel Cristian’s relationship with Olga. Cristian’s dad only leaves Cristian alone at Olga’s apartment because he has to find work to pay for his wife’s desperately needed medicine. As the chain of events revolves around the healthcare system, Flies becomes a subtle critique of a system that fails to fully meet its citizens needs.

Despite the social critique which underlying the movie, Flies is a very warm-hearted film that offers an intimate glimpse into the lives of young Cristian and the solitary Olga. Through Cristian’s eyes and likability, the film takes us into the everyday corners of the city: the comedors (daily eateries), brutalist apartment blocks, and even the hospital’s security guard posts. Director Fernando Eimbcke conveys Cristian’s perspective naturally through these everyday shots and interactions, making the film a wonderful modern addition to the recent black and white releases showcasing neo-realist Mexico City alongside Gueros, We Shall Not Be Moved, and Eimbcke’s debut Duck Season.

2

The Clash – Spain/Latin American Competition – SBIFF

Roberto, an 18 year old boy, joins his father in Montreal to escape the violence in Peru. His father, now Bob Montoya, fled Peru a few years earlier and now lives with his Canadian wife and daughter. The Clash shows both the culture clash for Roberto and the macho clash with his now Canadian father. It plays out a bit like a Martin Rejtman film in which the oddball humour has been switched out for a tense underlying machismo.

The arrival of Roberto is a challenge to Bob’s male pride. We don’t know how much of a success Bob was in Peru, but he’s desperate to present himself as a success story in Canada. Roberto obviously knows where he came from in Peru so Bob wants to show him how far he’s come. Roberto is the medium for Bob to prove himself to people back in Peru.

In order to maintain his image, he tries to sell how great Canada is to his son. He keeps telling him it’s a place where you can be anything, a place where you can make lots of money. He portrays himself as a businessman that is one step away from the next big deal with a nice house and a nice car. However, the house, the car, and his suit are all for show. The nice house and car that he ‘owns’ are really his wife’s and his suit is just a image that covers up the debts he’s incurring.

Like Uncle Rico in Napoleon Dynamite, Bob Montoya resorts to machismo to present himself as a big man. Whilst he’s grateful to have his son with him – as it’s a chance to prove to someone he’s achieved the American dream – he also sees him as a challenge to his masculinity. He’s a new male figure in the house that takes some of his wife’s and mistress’ attention away from him.

Their relationship fits Freud’s Oedipus complex theory. Bob is the father figure that dominates the household. Roberto is the son that reluctantly lives within the rules his father sets. They rarely talk beyond a few awkward words as Roberto lives in silence. Bob asserts his male dominance over Roberto by kissing his wife and his mistress in front of his son. In contrast, Roberto has fantasies of hooking up with his father’s mistress. In a final awkward party, Roberto battles his father for a dance with his mistress. It’s only in the club when he’s drunk that he can overcome his ‘castration anxiety‘. However, his father never allows her to dance with him in order to preserve his position as the alpha male.

The Clash is a brilliantly awkward film about a father and his son battling to prove their masculinity in a place foreign to the both of them.