Famous Police Shootouts

Mexican artists confront violence with song, brush

MEXICO CITY (AP) — Dozens of plastic foam heads rain onto the stage. Four drug traffickers in fringed jackets and sparkly pink cowboy hats bat them into the audience with toy AK-47s. All the while, the cast croons, "Let them slit our throats, let them pack us up ... let them not ask any questions, let them not investigate."

This is cabaret, Mexico style. Las Reinas Chulas, or the Beautiful Queens, parody drug violence in a show the women first produced in 2005 and that still fills nightclubs around Mexico, including a performance in the tourist town of Taxco this weekend.

Like other aspects of Mexican society, violence now pervades the arts. From paintings to movies to opera, the killings and kidnappings that dominate headlines are now the topic du jour for artists trying to process what's happening to their country. Many artists say they also hope their work helps to spark change in a society that seems to be growing numb to the daily bloodshed.

Dead bodies, blindfolded and hands tied, blot bucolic landscape paintings. Pieces of a car window shattered in a shootout provide material for glittery bracelets that are part of an art installation. A famous narco-ballad about a female drug trafficker who kills her lover becomes an opera.

"Art always tries to talk about where we are heading," said Ana Francis Mor, a performer with Las Reinas Chulas, who have been invited to perform in the U.S. and Europe. "It's a thermometer for society."

Even as the art flourishes, audience reaction and public support have been mixed, mirroring Mexico's ambivalence about how to cope with the wave of violence that government figures show has so far taken at least 35,000 lives. Other estimates peg the body count at around 40,000.

"Every day we hear about the corruption, the killings, the impunity, and it feels like all of that is closer and closer to us, yet no one does anything, no one says anything" said Semiramis Huerta, a cabaret actress in another show, "The United Narcos of Mexico," which closes with corrupt police and drug traffickers dancing in a chorus line.

Mexican art has long reflected the country's violent history, from the murals of Diego Rivera and David Siqueiros that dramatized the horrors of the Mexican Revolution to novels and narcocorridos detailing in word and song the entrails of the drug trade.

Narco themes have been showing up in visual arts for at least a decade, especially in states such as Sinaloa, home to a powerful cartel of the same name, where violence long predated President Felipe Calderon's late 2006 crackdown on organized crime. But in the last two years, more exhibits have gone national and even international, and the sheer amount of such art has climbed.

Beverly Hills Cop (Special Collector's Edition) | Online Movies ...

This is one of those simple movies that is so deceptively good, you don’t realize how good it is. I have probably unintentionally seen this movie 30 times. Every single time it is on TV, I end up stopping whatever it is I was doing and end up watching it to the end, even though I know who the bad guys are and how it ends.

Murphy is Axel Foley, a Detroit police detective. His boss, Inspector Todd, is portrayed by real life Gilbert Hill, a semi-famous police detective in his own right. “Mad About You” creator and star Paul Riser has a small role as Foley’s fellow detective. Todd is always threatening Foley with termination due to his costly methods of crime busting.

When his friend Mikey Tandino (James Russo) arrives from Beverly Hills to Detroit to visit with his childhood friend, Foley, Mikey gets murdered. Foley is hit on the head during the hit on his friend, but is otherwise unscathed.

Because of his relationship with Mikey, a guy with a lengthy record of minor petty thefts, Todd assigns another detective to the murder and orders Foley to stay away. Lacking confidence in the skills of the assigned detective, and determined to get justice for his friend, Foley takes a “vacation” and goes to Beverly Hills to see if there is a connection.

The plot is more than just some laughs and gun fire – you truly feel like you are part of Team Foley, investigating the case. Does the murder involve the German Bearer Bonds that Tandino had on him when he was murdered? Is it about U.S. Customs? Is it about cocaine? Is it about expensive art? There are so many different aspects interwoven, a first time viewer is really taken for a ride.

From the get-go, you know who the bad guys are – but will they be caught, and why did they kill Mikey? This film, released in 1984, seemed to recognize the unique nature of the 80s and rather than some dated film with neon socks and big hair, it seems to make itself into a time capsule. Foley’s hair and clothing are timeless for any decade from the 70s to today, so it’s almost like he’s a time traveller, laughing at some of the styles, cars, & habits of the rich & famous in the 1980s in California.

The music is also excellent and fits the mood for each scene. The main theme, “Axel F,” a techno-type of instrumental, was on Billboard’s top 10 for weeks on end and is often heard as a polyphonic ring tone on today’s phones. One of Murphy’s all-time best – second only to his role as “Donkey” in the “Shrek” franchise.

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