La ley de Herodes is a 1999 Mexican film directed by Luis Estrada. It is a satirical comedy about political corruption in Mexico, specifically during the terms led by the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) in the country. It stars Damián Alcázar, Pedro Armendáriz Jr., Isela Vega and Salvador Sánchez.

The film is set in 1949, the year in which President Miguel Alemán Valdés was in power; however, because it was filmed and released during the last decade in which the PRI governed before its first defeat in national elections, the plot was alluded to as a criticism of the six-year terms of Carlos Salinas de Gortari and Ernesto Zedillo.

The feature film won eleven Ariel awards, including Best Film, Best Director, Best Actor (for Alcázar) and Best Supporting Actor (for Armendáriz Jr.). La ley de Herodes is the first film in the unofficial tetralogy directed by Luis Estrada with the intention of criticizing the Mexican government, succeeded by Un mundo maravilloso, El infierno, and La dictadura perfecta.

Social impact

The film was not well regarded by the authorities in charge of film distribution in Mexico, because when it had to be subjected to the censorship filter, the country was still under PRI rule and an election year, 2000, was approaching. However, the strong pressure exerted by the public - eager to see an uncensored film with political content - and by several print media that dared to denounce the blockade to which it was subjected, finally made it possible for it to be screened in the middle of the election campaign season.

It can be considered one of the great Mexican films of the last forty years, not only for its quality, ironic and biting humor, but also for having influenced many voters to dethrone from power the hegemonic party, which it portrays in its entirety, with all its vices, defects and contradictions. What is striking is the capacity for synthesis he displays, as he faithfully reflects the PRI's style of governing, the internal power relations within the party, its rules for carrying out the succession of rulers, its way of relating to the Church, the opposition and the United States, and how, through authoritarianism and corruption, the PRI, the government, the State and its institutions became one and the same thing. And all with the purpose of consolidating itself not only at the top of the Mexican political system, but of making it exclusive.

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    • Quimby [any, any]
      ·
      2 years ago

      "My pronouns are Do Not Refer To Me" :possum-mama:

      • Fartster [comrade/them]
        ·
        2 years ago

        Thats what I do, since I can barely remember names, how to get to the market, drinking enough water, I'm happy to have a neutral default because otherwise I will say the wrong thing in my nearly constant dissociated state.

      • Frank [he/him, he/him]
        ·
        2 years ago

        No that's literally how the language works. If you don't know the gendered pronoun then they/them/their applies in all cases. There's no way in English to refer to a person without using their name or a pronoun. "

        At some point language can only be bent so far before it's no longer mutually intelligible. I guess you could go in to weird circumlocutions like "The person standing to my right" or "The person wearing the blue coat" but at that point you're being unreasonable.

    • Cromalin [she/her]
      ·
      2 years ago

      i just read about avu-chan, because avu-chan starred in inu-oh (great movie btw) and on wikipedia it mentions that avu-chan used to go by she/her pronouns in english, but now would like to not be referred to with pronouns at all. which is a little awkward in english, but i know that's a lot easier to handle in japanese.

      i saw some people getting frustrated with reviewers using they/them, and while obviously it is bad to misgender someone (though i'm not sure if that totally applies here) it's definitely a foreign situation to most english speakers. i do respect avu-chan for saying that our insistence on gendering things in basic speech all the time is bullshit, and that avu-chan wants no part in that