Omar Cabrera/Reform Agency
Thursday, January 19, 2023 | 12:32 p.m.
Mexico City.- The filmmaker David Zonana made his debut with an acclaimed portrait of the national working class with Mano de Obra, but now he sneaks into the Military College to show his insides and shed light on the current state of the Army.
His second feature film, Heroico, debuts tomorrow at the Sundance International Film Festival, in the competitive World Cinema Dramatic section, in addition to being screened in February at the Berlinale.
“They are two of the most important festivals in the world. Being the first Mexican film to go to both is an honor, that speaks of how current the theme is.
“We hope that this will turn into having exposure with a large audience in Mexico as well, because I did it thinking about us as a society, nothing will fill me more than being seen in my country,” Zonana shared in an interview from Park City, Utah, where the Sundance Festival begins today.
Heroico tells the story of Luis (Santiago Sandoval), a young man with indigenous roots who decides to apply to the Military College, where he will have to live with the physical and psychological violence of military educational methods, which seek to turn each of his applicants into the perfect soldier.
“He touches on extremely important issues in Mexico today, such as that process in the military institution, he talks about identity, violence, all told from a character who enters the Armed Forces.
“There is so little information about this that we Mexicans will find it very interesting, especially now that we are living more intensely with the Army,” explained the director.
Due to the secrecy of the institution, Zonana fed on testimonies from former cadets to find out what the admission, permanence and conditions of the Military College are like.
“We take the investigation very seriously, on several fronts, but especially interviews with former cadets and soldiers who opened the doors of their privacy to us, shared their experiences in the armed forces, many went through intense things. That was fundamental for tell it more realistically,” he said.
In the end, as a creator, Zonana wanted to portray that process, without judging, to provide the viewer with elements and understand what happens behind those men.
“I wanted to understand a bit and humanize the young people who enter the Armed Forces, where they come from, why they enter, what the Army offers them that is not available in other sectors of civilian life. And stop caricaturing them as ruthless people who only He’s up against the cartels.
“It is important to understand what their motivations are to lead to what we Mexicans experience when we see the news day by day,” he stressed.
Stepping on calluses? Surely. But the creator is clear that his premise is to bring to light a reality that is impossible to put on makeup.
“The objective is to bring to light the reality of the Country, of the hundreds and thousands of young people, to inform us of what this world is. And then whoever takes it personally or is offended does not matter.”
The film, which will hit theaters in the second half of the year, features performances by Mónica del Carmen, Fernando Cuautle, Esteban Caicedo and Isabel Yudice.
