The true story of Saúl Armendáriz, a gay wrestler from El Paso who rose to success in the 1990s under the name Cassandro el Exótico.
Gael García Bernal was born to embody this larger-than-life man. The Mexican actor who was discovered in Amores Perros and Y tu Mamá También offers one of his most memorable compositions in his career, being by turns extravagant and exemplary sobriety, flamboyant and bittersweet. This colorful character could have descended into caricature, but on the contrary he is portrayed with great love and humanity.
This is not the first time that African-American filmmaker Roger Ross Williams has tackled Cassandro’s life. He was already the subject of his short film The Man Without a Mask (2016). Having made his mark in documentaries (he won an Oscar in 2009 for Music by Prudence), this time the director completely embraces fiction. So much so that the screenplay he co-wrote with David Teague practically omits the hero’s difficult childhood and most of the escapades. To get a more complete portrait of the man, it’s best to turn to the melancholy documentary Cassandro the Exotico! by Marie Losier.
It is rather a question here of an inspiring and entertaining feel-good movie, which incorporates the elements of the traditional biographical film. His rise is told vigorously, like in a Martin Scorsese film, while his love life and his relationship with his mother evoke more the sensitivity of Pedro Almodóvar.
The story excels in transposing the ambient machismo, both that of the Mexican struggle and that of society in general. The shadow of the religious father looms large and his absence allows Saúl (Gael García Bernal) to build himself, to no longer embody the anonymous masked wrestler El Topo, but the one and only Cassandro, who wrestled disguised as a woman. His identity is built in the ring, during fights where he seems carried by the cries of the crowd and the contagious energy of the staging.
This vibrant portrait of an extraordinary destiny could easily be the subject of a double bill with SOLO by Sophie Dupuis as the aesthetics and themes are similar.
