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'Nacho Libre' Provides Mucho Laughs |
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Friday, 16 June 2006 |
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By Kylee Dawson
 Lightening strikes twice for director Jared Hess with "Nacho Libre," a new comedy created with the same originality and head-scratching humor as his breakout hit, "Napoleon Dynamite." And if you're of the minority of people who hated "Napoleon Dynamite," you'll still probably get a kick out of the absurd one-liners and reliably hilarious antics of Jack Black as the title character.
Filmed in and around
Oaxaca
,
Mexico
, the story is about Nacho, a man who grew up in a monastery after being orphaned. His priestly responsibilities are primarily limited to "cook," but his childhood obsession with lucha libre wrestlers is still strong. So strong that he begins moonlighting as a luchador ("wrestler") with an unlikely sidekick, the atheistic Esqueleto ("The Skeleton") played by newbie Héctor Jiménez.
Lucha libre, loosely meaning "free-style fighting," is basically the Mexican equivalent to the
U.S.
's WWE. Only it's much, much funnier and most of the wrestlers wear masks. Sure, they have women luchadores, but lucha libre also offers something most fighting forms don't: dwarves. And one of the funniest scenes in the film involves Nacho and Esqueleto taking on two of the scariest fighting dwarves since the Ewoks in 'Return of the Jedi.'
With his newfound fame as an amateur luchador, Nacho uses his earnings to help the orphans at the monastery, but struggles to maintain his secret identity so as to avoid scrutiny and banishment from his fellow priests. Despite the fact that we're dealing with a man of God here, there is also a love interest: Sister Encarnacion, a devout, but über hot nun who joins the monastery. Played by Spanish television starlet Ana de la Reguera, Sister Encarnacion becomes the object of Nacho's affection, even though she teaches the orphans that lucha libre is a sin.
In all its silliness, "Nacho Libre" authentically captures Mexican culture to an extent; from the repetitious use of elotes (roasted corn ears with mayonnaise and chili pepper) to actual Oaxacan citizens as superfluous characters, including famed luchador Cesar Gonzalez as Ramses, the most famous and most arrogant luchador in town. Danny Elfman's Latin-infused musical contributions are also a very nice touch.
However, besides the obvious fact that the 99 percent of the film is in English, its lead character is obviously not Mexican. It turns out that Nacho is the product of a Scandinavian Lutheran missionary mother and a Catholic Mexican father. Very nice save. But there is no explanation for Peter Stormare's seemingly useless cameo as a spiritual guide. Then again, there are many other unanswered questions, none of which take away from the pure entertainment of the film.
Coincidentally, the timing of such a film couldn't be better, politically and socially speaking. People of all languages and cultures could use a laugh and "Nacho Libre" provides more than its fair share.
4 out of 5
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New Remy Chandler Novel
Seraphim turned PI, Remy Chandler investigates the disappearance of a young girl, and goes up against the biblical Delilah in the latest in the series, available now.
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