The Mayor offers an intimate understanding of the current situation in Mexico from a side of the spectrum rarely accessed: someone in a position of power. Fernández cuts a controversial figure: when newly elected he publicly announced the death of a crime leader before the body was even found. Fearless, and surprisingly affable, he has no qualms about how he gets his job done, nor do his residents seem to mind. Since his election, crime rates, though still high, are down.
Over the course of The Mayor, we see Fernández play a clarinet solo in his enormous fortress outfitted with tiles from William Randolph Hearst's mansion. We watch home movies of his expeditions to Africa, and listen to his thoughts on governing, which often enter troublingly hazy moral zones. Allowing their subject to reflect on his life's activities in the comfort of his own quarters, Altuna, Rossini, and Osorno, in accordance with the best films of Errol Morris, craft a richly layered portrait of this contentious leader — by letting him speak for himself.
Where: Union Docs
322 Union Ave, Brooklyn
When: September 7, 7.30 PM