¡YA! YOUTH ACTIVISM Gringotón
Ballvé, Teo
"I DECIDED I WOULD TAKE TO the streets to seek funding "for a people's insurrection in the United States: a guerrilla war," is the stated mission of Gringot6n, the protagonist of the latest...
...The film has been well received on both sides of the border, and the intrepid filmmaker is planning new adventures for the Gringot6n character in Bolivia and Brazil...
...his misused Mexico City slang...
...It's the 'gringo-thon 2003' to take out Bush from the White House...
...Don't give up...
...Although his work was deservedly celebrated, he had his qualms...
...he yells as he boards the bus...
...We're gonna take out that mother...
...After spending five years making documentaries about radical social movements in Mexico, Berger says he realized he had "essentially become an ethnograph48 er of third world protest...
...And one woman happily exclaims, "Of course we support your cause...
...2003...
...Berger believes the film's success up to this point stems from the real need for Latin Americans to see representatives of the United States publicly humbled...
...Therefore, I decided to turn the lens of my camera 180 degrees around, at myself as a misplaced gringo living in Mexico...
...Not to denigrate ourselves," insists Berger, "but simply to trash the figure of Tio Sam and replace it with a more human archetype of the United States...
...I DECIDED I WOULD TAKE TO the streets to seek funding "for a people's insurrection in the United States: a guerrilla war," is the stated mission of Gringot6n, the protagonist of the latest short film by Gregory Berger...
...As he approaches passengers on the bus, an elderly man says, "We will give you moral and economic support so that he falls from power...
...freely available online for viewing in its entirety at <www.salonchin gon.com>) is set in Mexico City during the initial stages of the invasion of Iraq...
...Using heavily accented Spanish and clad in shorts, a Hawaiian shirt and straw hat, Gringot6n (Berger) appeals to the unsuspecting passengers of a Mexico City bus for donations to his revolutionary cause...
...Then, as he munches on a taco, he notices a TV commercial for a fundraising telethon and, struck by the synergy of the ideas, he takes to the streets with a collection can, hence gringoton, or gringo-thon...
...Gringot6n washes windshields, sells gum and becomes a street musician to earn a few meager pesos for his guerrilla movement...
...I found this task to be an urgent one, because in this age of empire, gringos are perceived to have very little capacity for self-criticism or healthy self-doubt, especially in Latin America...
...He later observes the daily plight of Mexico City street vendors fighting for their survival...
...I wanted the character to have good intentions and to be likeable, but I wanted the character to not quite be fully attuned to the subtleties of the Mexican people with whom he was interacting...
...Mexican struggle and protest had become a marketable commodity for me, and I didn't like it...
...THE FILM BEGINS WITH GRINGOTON WATCHING THE graphic images of the occupation of Iraq in horror...
...and his personification of the loud, larger-than-life gringo stereotype, he receives enthusiastic support from amused and bewildered Mexicans alike...
...Despite his atrocious Spanish...
...Another dimension of the Gringot6n character, according to Berger, is his embodiment of the guilt complex of what is sometimes called "revolution tourism" and his sincere, if paternalistic, belief that his actions can change the world...
...It is a hilarious commentary on Latin American perspectives on the United States and its citizens in this imperial age...
...The film Gringoton (17 mins...
...I wanted to create a comic gringo character to mock Americans in Latin America," says Berger, "while at the same time articulating the very real possibilities for constructing greater mutual understanding and solidarity among forward thinking and post-nationalist citizens from across North and South America...
Vol. 38 • November 2004 • No. 3
