What Does Mexico Really Think of 'Emilia Pérez?'

Viewers filing out of theaters Thursday night said they had been eager or curious to see the movie after hearing it was the most nominated film at the Oscars.

It was nominated for Best Picture, Best Actress for Gascón, Best Supporting Actress for Saldaña and two nominations for Best Original Song. That comes after receiving a number of prizes at its world premiere at Cannes and wins in four different categories at the Golden Globes.

But many left with mixed feelings.

Dora Pancardo said she found it entertaining to the point of not blinking during the musical numbers, but she did not like the film's portrayal of violence.

"The director wanted to convey the part that we're in a violent society, which isn't a lie, but it seemed crude to me," said the 45-year-old mentor for women. "I also didn't like that Selena Gomez spoke such bad Spanish. There's certain dialogue and certain expressions that we don't use in Mexico."

The film's writing has been a frequent target of criticism, as well as a cast of leading actors that only includes one Mexican in a very supporting role - Paz - making for a mishmash of Spanish accents. It was also shot in France.

Mexican film critic Gaby Meza said "Emilia Pérez" is "exotic and bold," but without depth. "Not in the trans experience, not in the narco experience, not in the disappeared, but rather a touch of everything like an ingredient to sweeten."

While narco violence and the dramatic tales of cat-and-mouse between criminals and authorities in Latin America have long captured the imagination of Hollywood, they're also a point of trauma for many Mexicans who live with the consequences. of such violence.

More than 121,000 people have gone missing in Mexico's drug war, according to federal government data. Families spend years searching for their missing loved ones and demanding justice, often putting their own lives at risk to do so.

Among them was Artemisa Belmonte, who has sought justice for her mother and three uncles who went missing in the northern state of Chihuahua in 2011. Belmonte started a petition on Change.org asking that the movie not be released in Mexico.

"I feel like it's extremely offensive, overly simplistic, it makes it frivolous, I don't understand the point of making something like that and that it has so many awards," Belmonte said from Ciudad Juarez, across the border from El Paso.

"You can't talk about the subject as if it were something to make a musical about," she said, stressing that the wound of disappearances is still open. "Evidently they didn't investigate anything, they did not sit down with a person who has had a missing family member."