I remember when the Mexican movies were way more disrespectful, but above all more than stupid, when the Mexican actors did what Will Ferrell attempts, "being funny" without the charm for it. As example I remember the dumbest movies produced in México in the 70's and 80's, movies like "Los Verduleros", "La Pulqueria" "Las Ficheras" and on and on. So "Pastorela" with its original, premise, made laugh for the first third of the movie, suddenly everything went to hell.Just think a crossover between "Dumb and dumber" and "The Other Guys", do you get the picture, no? let me explain, the movie goes from being funny and smart, to dull and stale,stupid and nonsensical, and I would said "Emilio Portes" should just write or should just direct, well actually neither, as once a writer myself, I decided to quit my best writings when I got "writer's block" better not deliver than delivering a piece of garbage! Overall, this is a sane and decent movie if you compare it to aberrations like" The Dictator" (2012), but unfortunately enters the category of dumbness, yes, it lacks intelligence and good judgment. If I despised movies like "Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy (2004)" now I have "Pastorela" as its equal. "Pastorela" was doing fine, without hypocrisy, and not pulling back the punches, to the day by day idiosyncrasy of certain societies and individuals, I mean, it made me laugh when the priest and the nun,and thankfully, the scene was made without the intention of being erotic, just to be funny, even the exorcisms seemed to be purposely to make us laugh and not to horrified like if it was "Deus Irae" (2010).Listening to the grumpy Joaquin Cosio "Chucho" and the rest of the cast, became the relief I was looking after watching so many mysteries, crimes,dramas, thrillers, action and zombie movies; because Cosio is an unintended funny actor in all of the few movies I have seen him, and somehow reminded me a little of Paco Stanley (RIP) back then when "El Tenorio Comico", (even though they don't look alike), it is the same sneakiness to make you laugh, certainly not the same elegance, but a good laugh is a good laugh. I literally blame the writer-director for this half cooked turkey. We used to say "El que mucho abarca poco aprieta" "The one who holds too much, grasp just a little" and I wonder if after the first third of the movie, the writer-director suddenly had a vision, a revelation or just smoke too much of what he shouldn't have. I wish that I could recommend this one, anyway if you are curious about it, watch half of it, and then "change the channel"!

This is actually the Mexican movie that won the most "important" awards this year: the denominated "Mexican Academy Awards" (the Ariel awards). PASTORELA won the award for best movie, direction, makeup, and some others. This means it now belongs to a list of best movie winners that includes the productions of people like Guillermo del Toro, Carlos Reygadas, Alejandro Gonzalez Iñárritu and (if you look further the last decade) Luis Buñuel. Everybody knows the Ariel awards are a joke but nevertheless when you see in their historic list of winners such great movies as CRONOS, EL LABERINTO DEL FAUNO and LOS OLVIDADOS, well, you just can't argue. Now, I haven't seen most of the films from that best movie list but still I'm pretty sure one of the worst decisions is PASTORELA. Now that Christmas is once again near, this movie is finally ready to hit the DVD/Blu-Ray Mexican market. It was released in cinemas more than a year ago, and as far as I'm concern its Region 1 DVD was released in the United States back in April 2012. The marketing strategy seems to be perfect: Christmas time? Well, here it is once again our movie about the birth of Jesus traditions, now on DVD/Blu-Ray! And I'm sure its success will continue but hell, this isn't something worth of your attention. In the first place, Emilio Portes (director and writer) is interested in showing the great passion that many Mexicans have for the religious celebrations of great tradition. The movie's protagonist is Chucho (played by Joaquin Cosio), who every Christmas is ready, and very happy, to perform again as the devil in the traditional representation of the Nativity of Jesus (that's what a pastorela is in Mexico) that every year is held in the neighborhood. By making this character a police agent, Portes is capturing that mentioned passion in a comic way; yes, Chucho might be one of those "die hard" agents, that wear suits and sunglasses all the time, but when is time for the pastorela, nobody shows more dedication and sensibility than him. Like a straight comedy -in which a police agent suffers in great manner the fact that this time he won't be able to perform in the pastorela as the devil- the movie is pretty competent, but far from brilliant. Is, in fact, better than you could expect, considering that its cast includes actors with a not-respectable-at-all career; I'm talking in specific about Eduardo España and his past in Televisa (the real f' devil) TV productions. What we have here is humor that for some moments make us remember other Mexican films like LA LEY DE HERODES (Luis Estrada, 1999), mainly because of the use of the spoken language. The main problem of PASTORELA is that Portes couldn't unite all the themes and elements in which he was interested and never had a main objective. LA LEY DE HERODES is a brilliant political satire that shows the essence of the Partido Revolucionario Institucional (PRI). The objective of its director Luis Estrada was clear and from that other elements emerged (humoristic, sexual, etc.).PASTORELA has, for instance, elements of a religious satire; a Father who maintains sexual relations with a nun and the classic indication of the great business that is the religion. Certainly, we can also find elements of a horror film; an exorcism one, to be specific. How many exorcism movies have come out recently? Too many: THE LAST EXORCISM (Daniel Stamm, 2010), THE RITE (Mikael Håfström, 2011) and THE POSSESSION (Ole Bornedal, 2012), to name a few. Is a tired subject, without a doubt, but what PASTORELA tried was to make fun of the subject. And yes, everything was just an attempt since the mentioned elements are basically forgotten as the movie goes on. The subject of the exorcism is used for the introduction of another important character (the Father Mundo, played by Carlos Cobos), but later it gets lost in a mix of noise and supernatural issues with no sense. The worst comes when the movie pretends to be an action one, with some epic things and black humor. Big budget but not many intelligence – it's one of those messy cases. Yeah, in Mexico that happens too! If you want some good black humor for this Christmas, don't consider this one and better go for something like Terry Zwigoff's BAD SANTA! *Watched it on 29 November, 2012

Catholicism and tradition are the life blood of Mexico and in one parish, police officer Chucho traditionally plays the devil in the nativity play.When exorcist, Father Mundo, is obliged to take over the ministry from his deceased uncle, he decides to stamp his authority by recasting the Pastorela: failing to appreciate that Chucho was born to play the devil.The ensuing kaleidoscope of costumed car chases, shoot outs and subterfuge, heads towards a real life showdown between good and evil.This irreverent riot of colour, and the perfect casting of Joaquin Cosio, as the devil, makes Pastorela a comic masterpiece.

Fast-paced with engaging cinematography and a rich blend of subtle and not-so-subtle humor both in the clever and often base dialog and the sets and wardrobe. A believable and distinctly Mexican story line enhanced with film effects that add a mystical and mythic feel -- occasionally carried to ludicrous extremes -- for an entirely enjoyable light-hearted comedy that dips its toes in darkness as it illustrates the classic battle between good and evil.Agent Jesus Juarez (Joaquín Cosio) is a protagonist that you want to love, but you're never quite sure if you're on the wrong side...he's funny and likable, but he just might be evil. The portrayal of some of the church figures, such as Padre Mundo (Carlos Cobos) and la monja (Ana Serradilla), might offend religious movie-goers, but it's all done in harmless fun. It will be interesting to see if, when the film is subtitled in English, it holds up the the Spanish language original.