Cassandro

Saúl Armendáriz lives in El Paso and wrestles across the border in Ciudad Juárez. Small halls, a mask, and a loss every time. Then he decides to perform as an exótico: the figure in lucha libre who wrestles in feminine presentation and who is traditionally not expected to win. Saúl breaks that rule and starts winning. Roger Ross Williams directs, in his first fiction feature. Gael García Bernal plays Saúl. Williams has a long relationship with the subject. He had already made a short documentary about Cassandro, and the feature continues that work; the real Saúl Armendáriz was involved in the preparation. What the film is interested in is not wrestling but acceptance. The exótico existed for the crowd to laugh at; Saúl walks out in the same costume and demands respect, and changes how the hall looks at him. The cost is shown too: his relationship with his mother, a lover who has to stay hidden, and how fragile an audience's affection is. García Bernal did most of the wrestling himself and trained for a long time for the part. Who it is for: viewers who like true stories, lucha libre culture and drama built on identity. Who it is not for: the narrative never leaves the biopic template and the last section proceeds too smoothly.