ma-cortes Thrilling and thoughtful film dealing with a rich compound besieged by walls and security electric system to guard the inhabitants agains the violent exterior characterized by poorness , chaos and misery . Set in Mexico D.F. , when a billboard falls on the wall it creates a breach in which three tiny delinquents enter into the enclosed neighborhood .But it results to be a location that is impossible to getaway and they find caught-up in the wrong place and the wrong time ; then things go awry for the three unfortunate crooks . The residents turned Vigilantes to be aware the enemy invasion and relentlessly pursue the small time thieves . A stirring and violent film that delves the real confrontation between social classes shocked by crimes and misdemeanors: The upper class and the lower class , as well as the police corruption and many other things . It shows the dark atmosphere of paranoia , tyranny , and mass hysteria of the wealthy people surrounded by strict surveillance system to protect against the poor slums and even organizing militias , acting as judges , juries and executioners . There are good acting by a decent cast , such as Daniel Gimenez Cacho as a council member who takes law on his own hands , Maribel Verdu as a mother who attempts help and guard his son , Carlos Bardem as a violen neighbour , as well as the veteran Blanca Guerra . Special mention for the newcomer duo teen : Chavez as the escaped boy hiding within the neighborhood's borders , at a basement , and Daniel Tovar as Alejandro , the good teen who brings him food and a pair of trainers and he tapes his story on his videocamara .It contains an atmospheric and adequate cinematography by Emilio Villanueva . And an evocative and intriguing musical score by Fernando Velazquez who has composed a lot of successful soundtracks with such international hits as The impossible, A monster calls , The orphanage, Crimson Peak , Gernika and The invisible guardian .Compellingly produced by Mexican/Spanish prducers as Alvaro Longoria , Pilar Benito , Rafel Cuervo , Ricardo Fernandez and Rodrigo Pla himself .The motion picture was well written, produced and directed by Rodrigo Pla. He is a fine craftsman who has directed nice shorts and full feature films as Desierto Adentro , A monster with a thousand heads and La demora .

Edgar Soberon Torchia At the risk of being wrong, I would say that production in the world film industry is mostly run by the high and medium social strata, with little creative input from the lower class. The middle and high class filmmakers may "starve" (for lack of material means to produce, not food) while they make their way, but once they enter the industry –as image makers for advertisement, television, film or new media- they frequently adopt a too comfortable vision of existence. This approach prevails when they deal with delicate social subjects, as the one Rodrigo Pla tackles in "La Zona", which has the certain value of being one of few films describing the potential violent relations between persons who live walled in exclusive and closed residential complexes, and people who live outside in marginal communities that surround the gated crowd, as in this case. Three poor guys cross the wall of La Zona to steal. Two die, one hides in a family house. Next a "Zonian" teenager finds the one hiding inside his house. For me, the merits of this film end here. Although Pla describes the fascistic tendencies of civil defense and police force, flirts with hyper-violence and adds a gram of science-fiction, this humorless film (and the situation was open to it and much more) opts for a melodrama formula, a tale of the "bad consciousness" type, and in the third act it never recovers. I do not know if the uncontrolled sappiness is a cultural trait of Mexicans, but as used by the filmmakers it has been the cause of much imbalance in many motion pictures, from the works of El Indio Fernández ("María Candelaria") to Iñárritu ("Amores perros"). From the moment the walled teenager's heart softens and he tries to become the savior of the young thief, "La Zona" follows the usual path of melodrama, with servile score that overemphasizes what is obvious. The cardboard characters grow stiffer, Daniel Giménez Cacho handles one of the most embarrassing scenes, in front of a TV set (Maribel Verdú is thankfully in the background and out of focus) and the ironic final shot of the ex-walled and temporarily liberated teenager eating tacos in the corner of a popular barrio, functions as a little scolding to the middle class adults who protect their small privileges to provide a gift (or borrowed) life to kids as the taco-eater, but above anything else as a wimpish validation of the kid's "courage" who, when the lights of the cine go up, will return in his comfortable 4X4 to pa's home in La Zona. And from there… we go back to the first shots of a little (symbolic?) butterfly, flying beyond the wall… Watch it, but wear glasses.

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!

sharkies69 Saw La Zona last night as part of the Hola Mexico film festival.Whilst I found the film reasonably entertaining I was ultimately left disappointed. Considering it was a feature film, I felt like I was watching something that was made for television.The actors do their best but ultimately the script is lacking and there is a real by-the-numbers feel to this.The characters are not fleshed out and the film lacks genuine tension which is a shame as the premise is a good one. There were lots of potential angles and ideas that were not explored.Some of the techniques used though worked well. Particularly the opening scene of the neighborhood houses in the reflection of the cars window which appears again later in the film. The security cameras in place around the zone also worked well.