‘Desierto Adentro’ (‘Desert Inside’) wins Mexican film accolades

This article was originally on a blog post platform and may be missing photos, graphics or links. See About archive blog posts.

The latest film from Mexico-based Uruguayan film director Rodrigo Pla scooped a number of prizes at Wednesday night’s Mexican Academy of Film Arts and Sciences ‘Ariel’ awards.

‘Desierto Adentro’ (‘Desert Inside’) -- a drama set against the backdrop of Mexico’s Cristero War, which took place between 1926 and 1929 -- won prizes for best actor, awarded to Mario Zaragoza; best special effects; best visual effects; best sound; best original score; best photography; best original screenplay; and best supporting actor.

Pla is also the director of the excellent ‘La Zona,’ which was released in Mexico last year. The movie reflected the reality of Mexico’s deeply divided social classes through the story of a crime that takes place in an elite gated community in Mexico City.

But there were some disappointments Wednesday night too, according to the News, which reports that ‘the soccer-themed ‘Rudo y Cursi’ (‘Rude and Genteel’), which stars Diego Luna and Gael Garcia Bernal, came up empty-handed despite eight nominations. The film was Mexico’s domestic box-office leader in 2008.’

‘Arrancame La Vida’ (‘Tear This Heart Out’), which was one of the films considered for a foreign-language Oscar from last year although it eventually fell out of the running, was passed over for the bigger awards Wednesday night.

But the Mexican epic did walk away with prizes for best adapted screenplay, art design, costume and makeup.

-- Deborah Bonello in Mexico City