Abhilash Babu La Zona is a movie that kicks the middle class right in their butts. It is a movie that bluntly tells them what they actually are, as against, what they think they are - Rodrigo Pla, through this attempt, probes the very fundamental idea of "civility", often extolled by the bourgeoisie as one of their defining (sometimes distinct) quality.Written by Laura Santullo and released in 2007, the movie talks about the degrading and twisted values in an industrialized Mexican society that is also marked by acute economic inequality. In her 'intelligent' script Laura underlines the fragility of social notions and values in times of stress.A fear struck group of people - who are considered progressive, civil and developed as per the accepted societal standards and who also live inside the excluded gates of a suburban colony surrounded by shanties - suddenly resort to the meanest and most butcherly of acts when threatened. The movie gradually rides the viewer into a mood of alarm, where even a grotesque act of covering up dead bodies of two teenagers in municipal garbage tends to be seen as normal and chasing a 16 year old boy to his death is passed off as an act of self defense.In a town, which fully characterizes the have/have-not divide in the post-modern society symbolized through its excluded gates, irenic living of its residents take precedence over morals and values.This story can find resonance in every country and in India that resonance is alarmingly loud. How many times have we read about residents of housing colonies beating up a robber to death or parading a woman naked because her son snuggled up to an upper caste girl?? La Zona is about all that - a simple and straight story line that can make you feel extremely uncomfortable for what you actually are and to a great extend break the farce called civility that the country's middle class often harp about. This was Laura Santullo's first attempt as a writer and she gets my two thumbs up.I give this a movie five star - must watch!

madrasell-1 There is nothing wrong with the synopsis, the "gated community" - dilemma could be delivered with a twist like this, no doubt. But the problem is how it is executed.There is not one character here with any kind of depth whatsoever. Its all one-dimensional cardboard-pieces responding to some really incoherent twists of the plot.The dialogue is embarrassingly bad sometimes and the actors fight to get some kind of guidance in their performances. The story kind of wants to be both drama and suspense-thriller but fails on both parts.Not that a drama cant be in the vein of a thriller and vice versa. (Check out Buenos Aires 1977 for some chilling thrills and high drama.)The stage is great though. The scenes of the clean cut streets clashing with the outside slums is alone thought-provoking. And the watchful eye of the surveillance-camera is perhaps tiresome by now but never the less effective here. But thats hardly a reason to spend time and money on this shoddy piece.

crappydoo This one started out with a lot happening with too many characters doing their thing and it took me a while to really get a grasp of what was actually going on. I was a bit fidgety for the first 30 minutes or so. However once I realised what was going on, I sat transfixed.The movie is not so much about the story , which is fairly simple about a heist gone wrong, and to a certain extent predictable . It is more of a comment on Mexican society and the class struggle. And since I myself come from a society not too different from the one depicted, I could completely relate with the happenings. Other than that, the film also covers issues like families struggling to keep together, the lack of communication, xenophobia, self-righteousness and the basic human instinct of violence, rage and revenge.The direction is simply brilliant and it is equally matched with the acting by every single character. The only other film I can compare this to is the great Italian film, L'Aria Salata. I am really glad that I had the opportunity to watch it and I highly recommend it for all people seriously interested in cinema. It will leave you thinking for a long time afterwards. I would definitely watch it a second time.

rasecz In any large city of Latin America or the rest of the third world, wealth and poverty coexist side by side, not uncommonly separated by just a thin high wall. In typical fashion the rich appropriate the bulk of the country's wealth, a few of the poor reclaim a tiny portion back through robbery and muggings, and the rich react in turn by protecting themselves and even striking back. It's low intensity class warfare.La Zona is an enclave, a walled-city with massive iron gates, widely scattered security cameras and around-the-clock monitoring. It's the modern equivalent of the medieval castle. Laying siege is a slum, where live the nemeses of the inhabitants of La Zona. They have come to this enclave out of fear, for protection against further assaults, to enjoy the good life in a secure haven. Many are angry. Some have been victims. Some are vengeful.The story begins when, during a storm, the wall is breached and electrical power is lost. A threesome from the slum takes advantage to penetrate the enclave and steal a few things. The temporary invasion does not go well. Shots are exchanged. People die. That event sets the wheels of the thriller in motion.The typical characters are present. The honest police investigator whose work is subverted by a corrupt police department. The good bad-guy, the bad bad-guy, the good good-guy and the bad good-guy. They are all there, some in multiple copies. It's formulaic, but effective.