Desperado

- Bang! Bang! You're dead. - No I'm not! This is the obvious reply which in Desperado is completely redundant. The fake blood already covers the body and the extra who got to participate for fifteen seconds before he was mowed down is proved wrong. In Robert Rodriguez' sequel to the hit El mariachi from 1993 we get to follow the vengeful musician in black, this time played by the Spanish actor Antonio Banderas, in his search for justice. He is assisted by his best friend Buscemi, played by Steve Buscemi, and the young beautiful Carolina, played by Salma Hayek. In order to reach his goal to find and execute the drug baron Bucho, El mariachi is forced to wipe out every unshaven Mexican that gets in his way. Besides, everybody seems to be after him and even if he does get wounded he always manages to hit his antagonists where it hurts with the elegance of a ballet dancer. Desperado is tough, handsome and deliciously well-made. A hearty portion of film which appetises and satisfies both cinematic and entertainment needs. But, the reactionary asks, where are the morals? On the whole, is there a difference between good and evil? Hardly. There might be a trace of morality at the beginning of the film, however this is something that you have to let go in a flash. Desperado does not try to be a story of the fight between good and evil in realistic terms. In Rodriguez' film, as in the world of super heroes and comics, the end justifies the means and the everyday morals that most of us possess vanish into thin air as we the audience are sucked down into the spiral of violence, lusting for more justified bloodshed. For every dead villain oneroars: ''There you go!'' Hardly morally edifying, but extremely funny. Antonio Banderas as the black avenger, a mariachi with a mission, an angel of death without mercy, represents the myth of the Latin male who defends his name and his family. But he is also every child who ever played cowboys and indians, cops and robbers or Zorro. - Pass the ketchup! PM