Mexico: if you believe Hollywood, it’s a wild desert land of handkerchiefed bandits, impoverished but unfeasibly attractive peasant girls, brutal drug lords, and photogenic cacti. Perhaps because of Hollywood’s relative proximity to the Mexican border, an idea of that border as some conceptual dividing line between civilization and lawlessness, order and chaos, has long been a conceit in American cinema. This vision of Mexico has little to do with the realities of a huge and complex country, but still, in celebration of Cinco de Mayo –- also an event that has little to do with the realities of Mexico, considering it’s barely celebrated there — here’s a series of films we’ve selected for their outlandish depictions of our southern neighbors. … Read More