14 DAY TRIAL // “Sicario” and “The Martian,” two of the highly anticipated releases opening wide in theaters in the US and abroad this weekend, are also among the strongest recommendations from critics. “Sicario,” for one, has a nearly perfect Fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes from the critics and very positive feedback from audiences who have seen it in limited release.
If the mayor of Juarez, Mexico, Enrique Serrano has his say, “Sicario” will be banned in theaters here, because of the negative way in which it portrays the city as a lawless place. He’s also threatening to sue the producers of the film for said portrayal, Entertainment Weekly reports.
“Sicario” is directed by Denis Villeneuve and focuses on the story of an “idealistic FBI” agent who starts working on cases linked to the drug cartels operating at the US border with Mexico. Only aerial shots of Juarez were possible because, according to Villeneuve, sending a crew to shoot on location was deemed too risky. “Juarez is still one of the most dangerous cities on earth,” Villeneuve said, as cited by EW. New Mexico had to be used as a Juarez substitute.
Even so, Villeneuve made sure to stress that the movie was fiction: it did portray likely situations, but it was not reality. That’s a distinction that Serrano has missed, because he sounds very serious about getting the movie banned and the producers sued.
The funniest part is that he probably hasn’t even seen the movie yet, because it doesn’t open in Mexico until December.
