Movie Review: Cassandro Is A Celebration of Resilience
In a world full of prejudice, the bravest thing you could do is be fearlessly yourself. Sometimes, we think prejudice is the capacity to gain more, but that is not, necessarily, true. Privilege can change shapes in the same way underprivilege can. In Cassandro, out September 22 on Amazon Prime, we see virtue lies in how you become a movement of love in the face of people who have the privilege to mask their poor behavior as ¨thoughtful.¨
Sometimes, I marvel at how humanity talks about humanity. The way we can so educatedly create comments and theories that totally disconnect someone’s value from their being. Gael Garcia Bernal shines as the titular character of Cassandro: a 1980s luchador that embraces the odds against him to become the successful ¨exotico¨ in Lucha Libre history: transforming a beloved, machista sport into an a more open, even funner game because if there is one thing Cassandro is…. It’s FUN!
Storylines about prejudice can be tricky. At times, they can feel too morbid: begging for a world that only follows tragedy when its trending to shed some genuine tears in private. Yet, people are tired and most have their own baggage and self-pity to sort through that, if such a feat is achieved, it is fleeting. Some may say it is ¨tropey¨ or others innovative to see a storyline where the person suffering at society’s hands is actually a great, happy human being. Bernal´s energy is infectious and embodies true strength. He displays Cassandro´s optimism and tenacity as rich, and far from the cheapness people can treat qualities like, sweetness, honesty, and even a little quietness.
Bernal, in truth, plays Saúl Armendáriz: a young man with a single mother that struggles with depression since abandoned by his father and, in some ways, by life. You get the feeling, from the beginning, that Saúl Armendáriz.’s lineage is one of strife and survival: being taught that rejoice and reward is found in how you resist what destroys you. Yet, for Saúl Armendáriz, joy should be joy, rest matters, and the world cannot always define your rewards. In essence, the film, directed by Roger Ross Williams, feels uniquely pertinent to the rising existentialism in this world.
Heading into 2024, many people are wondering why the pandemic still has them feeling so stuck and unchanged. It is as if we are all in a sinking ship, and realizing that we do not, necessarily, survive and rise as a community. If anything, the elevation ofa people comes with the choice of one person to elevate himself. Cassandro is the story of that person, who made that choice, and, in the end, the power of him being himself did change others, did inspire, and, most importantly, made him feel happy and rewarded by himself.
Note: I am sure you are wondering Bad Bunny’s role, but to be honest this is the second film that uses his star-power more in the trailer than in the movie. I was ready for a ¨My Policeman¨ storyline between Gael and Bad, but the scenes were brief and not enough to feel like Bad really was A CHARACTER. I truly hope that he gets more leading roles because I refuse a Bullet Train situation again.
