Machete reached the #3 spot at the box office opening weekend. But after viewing the film, it is clear that its producers lied about the extent of the films racial message, which includes vulgar atrocities, including the killing of a pregnant woman attempting to cross the border during one of the opening scenes. This deception about the films message could bring its tax incentives, worth millions in production costs, into question.
A lot of people made up a lot of stuff in terms of what the movie is about and who the bad guy is, she said. There were a lot of things that people misconstrued without even knowing the script and pretending they have a script.
Now there is no doubt. Everything Jones quoted from the script was on screen in one form or another and its tone was clear: opposition to illegal immigration is tantamount to murder, white racism and vile Machiavellian scheming. One scene that was excised from the script repeated the one-sided demonization of the Freedom Force vigilantes, who were to murder a young child on the border at the end. However, that ending was left behind for a different sequence altogether.
Who the illegals fight against on screen is one thing. What their words mean is altogether something else. Thats the shell game Rodriguez plays and his racially divisive messaging goes way beyond the normal cinematic political posturing and button-pushing. And you will never see a more stereotypically racist portrayal of Southerners, who, in an obvious reference to the border Minute Men, are not only played for cheap laughs but portrayed as sub-human animals who hunt and murder illegals kill a helpless pregnant woman and say Welcome to America.
Rodriguez & crew played everyone as fools, knowing full well what the film would contain. Does Texas want to subsidize the films of Robert Rodriguez and continue to give him a platform to spew divisive racially-tinted trash oriented at Hispanics and attempting to radicalize their views? Rodriguez is the face of the Texas Film Commissions tax incentives program, and has been virtually guaranteed up to $60 million in rebate funding for a package of films.
Blood-soaked and dripping with hate
It wasnt the extreme levels of violence or its nudity that made this film so offensive; it was the one-sided approval of Hispanic revenge killings while uniformly demonizing the actions of the white groups involved. Though the head Mexican drug lord was the ultimate enemy, he was served exclusively by white politicians and radical groups; everyone in The Network worked against him.
Whats more, the film was marketed towards Hispanic groups, including widespread promotion throughout Latin America, featuring a poster with an image of a blood-dripping machete (the symbol of peasant uprising). Now Hollywoods exports arent just American cultural hegemony, but a weaponized-subsection of radicalized Latino culture that draws in crowds by playing to Hispanic supremacy.
Machete star Danny Trejo embraced his image as the the first Latino superstar in an interview with HipHopNation.com, stating Its an honor to be considered the first Latino superstar. Or I should say the first Latino action hero! He continued:
I think Hollywood is afraid to realize that the Latino audience is the largest that theyve got. As long as they think that a Latino cant carry a movie, its going to stay that way. Robert Rodriguez who is innovative and brilliant, he knows what weve got. The other great thing is that he put some strong Latina ladies in the movie like Michelle Rodriguez and Jessica Alba. Lindsay Lohan also stars in the movie and she might as well be Latina (laughs).
Keep in mind that Fox 20th Century films, a division of Rupert Murdochs NewsCorp empire financed Machete. Its news division pulled a story criticizing the films violent war on immigration. While Foxs film division funds Machete, Fox News stokes heat over the Arizona immigration battle and beyond. At the same time warhawks at Fox News fumed over the Ground Zero mosque controversy, it was revealed that the mosque is financed in part by a top Fox News owner (who is Saudi) as well as many top Western philanthropies like the Ford Foundation, among others. Meanwhile Fox also funds diversity filmmaking programs.
Why would racist, elitist eugenicists groups like these finance radical minority movements? The strategy is to divide and conquer, breaking America into bands of opposing groups.
Theres not been such an openly racist film in America since the early days of cinema where the pro-KKK Birth of a Nation, and films featuring Charlie Chan and other coolies epitomized a cruder era of filmmaking full of offensive stereotypes. 70s exploitation films dont come close to Machete, despite inspiring much of its style. Today, such depictions from early cinema have been denounced. Why then would todays politically-correct culture who denounce these stereotypes accept and praise a racist filmmaker who pans to the Hispanic market?
The messages in culture, including how ethnic groups are portrayed, are clearly important to discuss in our society. Propaganda has been synonymous with films since the beginning when Soviet propagandists, like Eisenstein, and later Nazi propagandists, headed by Goebbels, used it as a weapon of cultural influence. While Rodriguez has a right to make as hateful and racist a film as he dares, the State of Texas should be hesitant to institutionalize support for his extreme views, given that the Film Commission has a policy to selectively refuse funding that depicts Texas in a bad light. The film Waco was sent packing, so why should Machete have Gov. Rick Perrys blessing and budget?
Do its themes grace Texas, or glorify a Reconquista view of the United States mainland?
In the Mexploitation film Machete, white characters who ran with the Hispanic crew felt the need to justify their presence. I was adopted, one Anglo wanna-be gangster told Machete as he attempted to rally a Latino posse. Hispanics, like Jessica Albas character, who worked for the white system as an I.C.E. (Immigrations & Customs) officer, redeemed herself by betraying the law for whats right.
Albas conversion, which ended in her rallying a crowd of migrant workers by declaring We didnt cross the border; the border crossed us, was inspired by Luz. Played by Michelle Rodriguez, Luz operates a taco stand as cover for her role as head of The Network, an underground organization that helps to transport migrants across the border and situate them within the U.S. Its influence is channeled through the pervasive myth of Luzs alter-ego She, the militant female version of the revolutionary leader Che. The Network becomes a sort of underground railroad for the plight of the immigrant, seeking refuge from the Hellhole that is their collapsing country. In the film, that effort is thwarted by the white racist Von, who torches her headquarters while his band of vigilantes called Freedom Fighters prepare for their next border raid to mow down helpless illegal aliens. Von & his boys also conspire with a crooked state Senator played by Robert DeNiro to construct an electrified border fence that literally fries trespassers instantly.
Even the non-violent parts of the film are littered with mini-lectures about the justification for immigration or on the dignity of brown people and day laborers. And while the film had plenty of humor, its stab at border issues was, as Kurt Nimmo noted, anything but satire. It is more of a racial polemic, fueled by Rodriguez one-sided philosophy, that declares symbolic dominance through Machetes mythical exploits and ultimate victory.
Whats inflammatory? - Opening scene where pregnant mother trying to cross the border is killed by DeNiro and border vigilantes to prevent another anchor baby - A phony campaign ad for DeNiros Senator McLaughlin depicts hundreds of crawling worms and cockroaches while decrying the parasite immigrant terrorists crossing the border. - The Network of Latinos was continually virtuous while the Freedom Force, a vigilante group cast with caricatures of hillbilly trash, neo-Nazi types and fat slobs, repeatedly use terms like wetbacks, cucarachas, parasites, beaners and more. - Freedom Fighter vigilantes regularly go out on adventures to snipe at illegals near the border and film their exploits
- A Catholic priest played by Cheech Marin is crucified by the character Booth who slings racist insults while nailing him to the cross - A scene in a hospital where it is declared that illegal immigrants are usually refused emergency care, but Machete is lucky that The Network is there to help him this time. (In reality, the cost of health care for undocumented illegal immigrants, for both emergency care, births, public education and beyond is burdensome to every Southern border state, as well as in many other areas.)
In closing, Fox News writer James Pinkerton has written a news story about Machete titled The Reconquista is Here. Lets just hope the Fox executives dont pull the plug on this one. Contact Texas Governor Rick Perry: Phone: (512) 463-9200 Alt.: (512) 463-2000 Fax: (512) 463-1849
Contact the Texas Film Commission Phone: (512) 463-9200 Fax: (512) 463-4114 film@governor.state.tx.us
Alex jones Alex jones.... Maybe he is having flash backs of the parking lot incident. LOL
I remember seeing the tarintino trailer for Machete in planet terror/grindhouse
I never thought he would make it into a Real movie.. but here it is.
I plan on seeing it. I expect gore,violence,and all sorts of adult themes. I will not run off and cry like a baby to a lame ass governor that couldn't give a flip about it anyways unless it somehow paid him.
And on that note hasn't anyone ever noticed how AJ bemoans congress and Perry for hours on end then at the end of his show he is always telling us to call our Governor and congress critters ....Have you ever thought that maybe just maybe it is a damn good pysop to make you put yourself on the black lists?
Comment from Alex Jones: Robert Rodriguez is a liar - when a script for Machete was leaked back in May, I pointed out that the film contained numerous elements that were highly offensive and could easily kick-start a race war. Rodriguez claimed that these scenes had been edited or removed for the final version. They were not every part of the original script remains in the film almost word for word. http://www.infowars.com/leaked-machete-script-confirms-race-war-plot/
When a Cinco De Mayo political trailer for the movie was released in reaction to the Arizona immigration situation, Rodriguez again claimed that this was satire and not representative of the film. http://www.aintitcool.com/node/44943?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter In fact, the movie contains everything that appeared in this trailer and a lot more (including Jessica Albas provocative the border crossed us rallying cry).
This movie is sickening. Myself and six members of the Infowars team all left the theater feeling physically ill. The film opens with Texans butchering pregnant illegal aliens and the propaganda only gets more virulent, including references to serial killer Charles Mansons Helter Skelter vision of race war, sterotyping the Minutemen as murderers of illegal aliens, when in reality they have never harmed anyone, showing Texans butchering a priest, and talk of resettling America in the context of the extremist reconquista racial movement.
This movie is not a joke. It is race war propaganda hastily disguised behind a stylized, bloodthirsty black comedy.
If a white person had directed a movie about hispanics being sub-human devils who want to kill everybody there would have been an uproar, but Rodriguez can demonize an entire race of people, along with Texans in general, in a similar vein and the establishment media treats it all as a cutsie joke. This is disgusting.
Robert Rodriguezs Machete lives up to its trailer released earlier this year. This is Machete with a special Cinco de Mayo message to Arizona, the star of the grindhouse movie, played by Danny Trejo, growls at the start of the trailer. He then engages in bloody mayhem and mass murder.
World War One propaganda poster depicting Germans as baby killers. Rodriguezs film portrays the border Minutemen in much the same light.
On Friday night, Alex Jones took his crew to see Machete at a theater here in Austin, Texas. The movie lived up to and even exceeded expectations.
Critics have mostly panned the movie as trashy, campy, and rife with senseless and gratuitous violence. Daniel B. Wood, writing for the Christian Science Monitor, says the film has a sub-theme immigration and reverse racism. http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Society/2010/0904/Machete-has-immigration-subtheme.-How-will-it-play-in-Arizona Wood quotes Barbara OConnor, director of the Institute for the Study of Politics and Media at California State University, who warns that some people may have negative reactions after watching the film. Yes, this movie is goofily violent, but its also dealing with issues that are largely visceral, she tells Wood. I dont know that people in the middle of the debate will view it as satire.
Machete is not satire. It is propaganda under the cover of an exploitation film. It is designed to stir up visceral reactions to the very serious issue of illegal immigration. It strives to demonize Americans outraged over an open border and the influx of millions of illegal aliens every year.
Machete portrays members of the Minuteman Project an activist organization founded in 2005 by James Gilchrist as racist thugs and serial murderers. The Minutemen are not directly named. Instead, the border patrol group calls itself the Vigilantes, but the comparison in unavoidable.
A few minutes into the film, the border Vigilantes including a corrupt Texas politician played by Robert De Niro murder a pregnant illegal woman as she crosses the border. The scene is an example of classic war propaganda.
A handy rule for arousing hate, noted political scientist and communications expert Harold Lasswell, is, if at first they do not enrage, use an atrocity. It has been employed with unvarying success in every conflict known to man.
The murder of a defenseless pregnant woman in the film is designed to elicit a visceral and emotional response on the part of the audience. It far surpasses the ravishing of maidens by evil Huns portrayed in pro-war posters during the First World War. It ranks right up there with photos published in newspapers prior to the Second World War showing sadistic Japanese soldiers skewering Chinese babies with bayonets. Such images were instrumental in convincing the American people they should support entry into the war.
Rodriguezs message is clear if you oppose illegal immigration, support the activism of the Minutemen, and agree that states should adopt laws like Arizona in response to illegal immigration, you also support shooting pregnant Mexican women.
Polls reveal that most Americans by large margins support the Arizona law. A solid majority of Americans back Arizonas tough crackdown on illegal immigrants, Reuters reported in May. http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE64B4W820100512 Eight in 10 Americans are concerned that illegal immigrants burden schools, hospitals and other government services, and 77% worry that they drive down wages, according to a USA TODAY/Gallup poll, also conducted in May. http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2010-05-03-immigration-poll_N.htm
Despite its obvious cliches and racial stereotypes, a climatic scene near the end of the movie calls for a bloody revolution against the Vigilantes, aka the Minutemen and their supporters, or for that matter Americans who want to deal with illegal immigration in a lawful manner. During the scene, we see a large number of Mexican laborers using the implements of their trade to attack the Vigilantes.
The scene has an ominous parallel in April, the Americans for Legal Immigration PAC released a video showing an illegal alien supporter in Arizona claiming that shovels and axes will be used against Americans. We will not stop! We will take up our shovels and pickaxes and we will use them against you! Believe that! screams an opponent of Arizonas tough new bill addressing illegal immigration in the video.
Video
Illegals Threaten To Murder Americans With Axes and Shovels SB 1070
Following charges that he was attempting to stir up a race war with the release of his Cinco de Mayo trailer, director Rodriguez promised to tone down incendiary aspects of his film. After Alex Jones received the Machete script and pointed out the race war elements, Rodriguez said his critics have jumped to conclusions.
They may have read a script that wasnt finished and jumped to conclusions about its content and tone, he told Aint It Cool. Any filmmaker will tell you, there are three movies that you make: the one you write, the one you shoot and the one you edit. http://www.aintitcool.com/node/45169
The theatrical version of Machete is true to the leaked script, with one notable exception at the end of the film.
I dont really believe in protests, rallies or marches, Rodriguez told Aint It Cool, and then encouraged supporters of illegal immigration to register and vote because what we need is serious, comprehensive immigration reform, in other words voter should force the government to legalize tens of millions of illegal immigrants. You can feel peoples frustration [over Arizona] and yet its difficult for them to have a clear opinion on the matter because theres such a mess of misinformation.
Fresh food that lasts from eFoods Direct (Ad)
Robert Rodriguezs Machete is an obnoxious exercise in misinformation. It calls for a violent response to the political activism of Americans including Hispanic Americans opposed to wide open and lawless borders and the assertion by many Mexicans that the American Southwest was stolen from them by the United States.
Machete is primarily about illegal immigration specifically framed by the Cinco de Mayo trailer and is Rodriguezs answer to the acrimonious debate over Arizonas effort to stem the tide of illegal immigrants bankrupting the state.
Rodriguez has cynically shrouded his message violence in response to border vigilantes is not only acceptable, but preferable under the cover of a Mexploitation film. It remains to be seen if the film, now showing in theaters around the country, will result in violence.
It is a movie. Don't like it? Don't watch it. The movie "A day without a Mexican" seemed kinda stereotypical to me. "Friday" and "Soul Plane" have certain racial aspects one might find offensive. The Entire BET networks offends me...But I don't cry over it. Instead I just don't watch it.
Bullshit. That is the kinda of thinking that blames gun manufactures for murders or violent video games for kids bad behavior. You can't pass the responsibility of a citizens actions onto a movie just because it was violent or racist.
And I seriously doubt the depth of the political and/or social content of "Machete". It will probably be as deep as "Planet terror" or "Desperado". Neither of those two movies motivated folks to violence. ....
In fact I doubt you could name me any movie that has ever motivated folks to violence.
It is just a cheap b rated action gore flick. Get over it.
#46. To: Turtle, Prefrontal Vortex, christine, lod, Samuel Gray, Itistoolate, Original_Intent, randge, Flintlock, titorite, James Deffenbach, cynicom, Jethro Tull, InsideJob, PSUSA, farmfriend, A K A Stone (#45)