Title: Juan
de los Muertos, a.k.a. Juan of the Dead (2011)
Directed: Alejandro
Brugues
Cast: Alexis
Díaz de Villegas, Jorge Molina, Andrea Duro, Andros Perugorria, Jazz Vila
Review:
A couple of years ago, a friend of mine made a trip to Cuba for
scholastic reasons. She lived and went to school there; so she had the
whole ‘Cuban Experience’. According to the stories she brought back from her trip, going to Cuba can be a cultural shock for anyone accustomed to the comforts that capitalism has
to offer. But the best part of the whole
ordeal was that she came back with these beautiful pictures of streets filled
with cars from the 1950’s, huge cemeteries filled with these awesome looking tombstones
and the city, which is made up of old buildings that looked like something
straight out of a post apocalyptic film. The first thought that popped into my
head? Cuba
would make a great setting for a zombie flick! Well, low and behold a couple of
months later I heard they were shooting ‘Juan de los Muertos’ there. I was
excited to see the film because I’ve made two DIY zombie films myself Cannabis
Cannibal (2008) and Cannabis Cannibal Exodus (2009), two very low budget ‘guerrilla
style’ films that people have grown to love. So the prospect of making a full
blown zombie movie (read: a film with a real budget) that takes place in the Caribbean
is something that I’ve always wanted to do myself; but alas, director Alejandro
Brugues went ahead and did it before me. The question remained in my mind: Would
it have the necessary production values to be a good zombie flick? Could they
pull off a zombie apocalypse convincingly and would it be a memorable film?
Juan de los Muertos tells the story of a pair of slackers,
Juan and his best buddy Lazaro. They like living in Cuba because their life is a very
laid back one, all they’ve chosen to worry about is fishing and stealing in
order to survive. They get by through life looking for the next hustle, simply
put, they are used to living in a constant struggle, but with little worries
about being successful or achieving anything. Problem is that life has other
plans for them, like making them face a zombie apocalypse head on! One day as
Juan and Lazaro are fishing, they catch a zombie instead of a fish! Suddenly
everyone in Cuba
is turning into zombies! Juan being a survivor and an opportunist, dreams up a
way of capitalizing on the whole thing: he will kill your zombified loved ones
for you. Kind of like The Ghostbusters, but for zombies! How long will the
business go on?
Chilling Out During The end of the World
So first things first, I loved this freaking movie! It has
all the things you want and need in a zombie movie, like gore and cool looking
zombies, but above all things what I loved most about Juan de los Muertos was
how mordantly funny it was! And here’s what I love about seeing horror films
from other parts of the world: they bring a fresh new element to a genre that’s
otherwise worn. I mean, seriously, how many zombie movies have you seen where
they simply go through the same types of conversations and situations? Juan de
los Muertos offers this up: a fresh new take on the zombie genre. The simple
fact that the film takes place entirely in Cuba and the way Cuban people act
and talk is what made it such a refreshing watch for me. Unfortunately, maybe some
of the humor will be lost on American audiences, because some of the jokes are
very, very Cuban. The kind of jokes you’d only understand if you’ve lived
there, or understand what Cuba
is all about. But fear not, for the most part I think anyone can find humor on
this one. The motley crew of zombie killers is really what makes it so funny. Take
for example Juan, the protagonist of the film. He’s a slacker, he’s got a girlfriend
he visits sometimes for sex, but she’s married! He’s not a very good father. His
daughter hates him; she doesn’t even call him dad because he steals from her, his
own daughter! His best friend sticks to Juan like glue and has no problems
kicking the living daylights out of some dude that owes him money. Another member
of the group is a transvestite who goes around stealing radios from cars
because as she says “I have to survive somehow”. Another one kills zombies
while smoking weed! So we got this really crazy group of individuals whom we
follow through out the whole film, the cast made things livelier and funnier
than they could have been.
Thematically speaking, the film touches upon many political
issues, one of them being the never ending struggle between capitalism vs.
socialism. Which is the best? Which has proven to be most successful in the
world? I like the fact that the film does not idealize the way socialism has
treated Cuba .
There is an idealized form of socialism, one in which we are all equal, and
then there’s the form of socialism currently existent in Cuba, where everyone except
the government is the same: the people are extremely poor while the government
gets the best of everything. To me that’s just another form of dictatorship,
and of course living in a country like that must be a real struggle. I’ve never
personally been to Cuba ,
but I have family members and friends who have traveled there, and the stories
they bring back are of really good, kind people living in the middle of chaotic
socio-political situation. Politics reigns supreme over peoples lives, and big
brother is most certainly watching you. It’s the kind of town were freedom of
speech is none existent and speaking against the government will get you into
serious amounts of trouble. People have to really hustle to get by, which is
exactly the kind of character Juan is. Many Cubans are tired of living on that
constant struggle and for many, leaving the island is the solution to all their
problems, which is a theme reflected on Juan de los Muertos. Consequently, my
own film Cannabis Cannibal Exodus speaks of the same theme; it’s why it’s
called EXODUS, which refers to leaving. It’s the idea that things are so messed
up in your country, that you have no choice but to leave it all behind and
search for new horizons elsewhere. I also thought it was interesting how the
film isn’t one sided with these themes, while some want to leave and see that
as the solution to their problems, others will want to stay in Cuba and try and
improve it, change it. So the film isn’t’ preachy or one sided, its pretty even
handed with the political themes it touches upon.
And how is Juan de los Muertos as a zombie flick? Well, I
have to say I was extremely pleased with it, in fact is surpassed my
expectations. While at first it is obviously similar to Shaun of the Dead (2004)
in certain scenes, specifically when the humans see zombies on the streets and
to them it’s the same as seeing regular people on the streets everyday, I’d say
that’s about as close as it gets in terms of similarities with that film. Juan
of the Dead is its own creature. It has more then one memorable zombie
sequence, but one really blew me away. The good guys kill hundreds of zombies
in one swoop, not gonna spoil it but that scene was ultra cool. The film pays its
respects to the king of zombie movies, George Romero, by having an America
zombie killer introduced into the story who looks exactly like George Romero,
right down to the huge glasses and the wide eyed look. One scene blew me away,
where we literally see thousands of zombies walking beneath the ocean…I mean,
the zombie gags on this movie just kept coming and coming.
Technically, the film looks beautiful. I think this is one
of the films greatest strengths. It was very well shot. Same as with the
Brazilian zombie flick Porto Dos Mortos (2010), which to me was that much more
special simply because we get to see these awesome vistas of Brazil, the fact
that Juan de los Muertos was shot entirely in Cuba offers us some beautiful
vistas of Cuba, a city in decay. Cuba is a really beautiful island with many beautiful
places in which one could shoot a film, but this film focused mostly on the urban
landscape of Cuba
rather then the mountains and the more nature oriented vistas that the island
has to offer; which in the other hand is what sets it apart. Cuba is made up
of crumbling buildings which the government doesn’t care to fix up. A building
might be literally falling apart on people, and no one will do anything to fix
it! On the other hand government buildings are impressive looking and the
director took advantage of these as well. So we got a good looking movie shot
in some very unique locations. All this adds up to a very unique and incredibly
funny zombie flick that I highly recommend. I think the only downside to the
film is that sometimes, the visual effects aren’t all that great, but these occurrences
are few. Juan de los Muertros is special in many ways, but chief amongst them
is the fact that this is the first Cuban zombie film! Check it out if you want
to see something different and if you want to laugh, I doubt you’ll be disappointed.
Rating: 4 out of 5
