De la calle

De la Calle is a moving film about the street kids of Mexico City. Through this film we see poverty, drug use and corruption. The main character, Rufino, begins with the film with the dream of leaving the horrors of street life in Mexico City, but gets blind sided with the idea of finding his real father. We see poverty and drug use through the street kids that live under the city. The corruption comes through strongly in the police involvement in the sale of drugs. This is exactly what gets Rufino in trouble, when he steals drug money to fulfill his dream of leaving the city.

This film has a documentary feel, showing "real" street life in Mexico City, although it is a work of fiction. We see the chaotic life of living on the street in any city but what makes this film unique to Mexico City and Mexican culture is the fact that these street kids are a family. Rufino and his friends refer to each other as brothers. Xochitl, Rufino's girlfriend takes care of the younger street kids as a mother, even though she has a son of her own, that she is kept from her because she "can't" take care of him. This idea of family is even stronger during Rufino's relentless search for his real father; many of his brothers ask him why, as to say we are your family. When Rufino is violated towards the end of the film and it is shown to the audience that his attacker is in fact is real father it just reiterates that his true family is with the street kids.

This is a film set in present day Mexico City, where the teen aged main characters have little to live for except maybe drugs and sex. The main character is named Rufino, who learns that his father might be alive, and even though he had always been told otherwise, he becomes obsessed with finding him. Near the beginning of the film he comes into some drug money that shouldn't really be his, so he tells his girlfriend Xóchitl that she, her son, and Rufino can get away from the city, perhaps to see the ocean for the first time.

But no one in this film really goes anywhere. The Ferris Wheel that they ride near the beginning of the film is the perfect image, since it goes around and around, but there is no real escape. Everyone is just getting by, living day to day.

The acting by Maya Zapata (Xóchitl) and Luis Fernando Peña (Rufino) is excellent, and the rest of the young cast is also very natural. The camera is mostly handheld and the feel is very realistic and gritty.

The first time director was not at the screening where I saw this at the San Francisco International Film Festival on 4/24/2002, but the SFFS person did read some comments from him, which included the words "open wound." I think that sums up the film, which is worth seeing but is certainly not uplifting.

Director, Gerardo Tort develops a raw human portrait of today's urban slum. "De la Calle" literally translated means "Of the Streets", and suitably so as Tort deals with one of the most disturbing and complex issues: Children living on the streets of Mexico City.

The storyline of two teenagers, Rufino and Xochitl, whose desire is to escape the cruel lifestyle of the streets, is the vehicle used to tour the lives of a marginalized people and experience a glimpse of their ruthless reality. As it seems that there is no possible form of social mobility, the viewer is intrigued by Rufino's proposal of relocating and beginning a new life. This notion is paused by the discovery that Rufino's father might be alive. Their circumstances become more inconceivable as the film progresses.

Tort uses a hand-held camera to take the viewer to undesirable real places, otherwise unknown to the outsider. His use of lighting techniques, the stark contrast between light and dark, symbolizes the extreme disparity of the social economic classes that persist in Mexico. Tort also uses this minimal lighting to convey other critical issues of a Latin American nation: social immobility, corruption at different levels in society, family violence, drugs, rape, and poverty.

"De la Calle" is the child of Tort's original theatrical play, created more than a decade ago to raise awareness about social conditions in the heart of Mexico City. Tort was unable to continue showing the play due to restrictions imposed by authorities. Tort takes a risk by continuing this play as a motion picture. He portrays the painful life of a marginalized people as a form of art, unmasking core issues of the homeless, parent-less, and broken. Thus, Tort inspires others to rise up against the vicious cycles of social injustices.

As a first-time reviewer, I'll do my best: This movie gently warmed my heart, then tore it out. Almost documentary in style and realism, I was lost immediately in the story. Reminiscent of "Amores Perros," and, more distantly, of "Y Tu Mama, Tambien," this is a tale of forgotten vagabonds in Mexico City, their loves and hopes and desperate acts. Although fictional, you know these lives exist, and that realization is almost too horrible to comprehend. I cried. Don't let this deter you, though. Wait until you're in a pensive mood, then watch. Hopefully you'll be a better person after. True art.

This is a film that use poverty to shock. Children that live in the streets of Mexico, of course that´s a hard life, but that´s not enough for a movie. The story is very simple, but there´s not the problem, the first role actors are not credible, you can not feel any passion. Many years ago there was a Director who made a film of children living in the streets of Mexico, his name: Buñuel, the film "Los olvidados". You can see the difference, and you can understand why a film needs a director.