LEAD CAST: Sharon Stone, Billy Zane, Rosenberg Salgado, Miquel Rodarte DIRECTOR: Gabriela Tagliavini SCREENWRITER: Don Fiebiger & Amy Kolquist PRODUCER: Lucas Jarach EDITOR: James Coblentz MUSICAL DIRECTOR: Emilio Kauderer, Sebastian Kauderer, Marco Werba, Ana Barbara CINEMATOGRAPHER: Andrew Strahorn GENRE: Drama RUNNING TIME: 96 minutes DISTRIBUTOR: Wanda Vision S.A. LOCATION: Los Angeles, California, USA
Technical assessment: 3
Moral assessment: 2
MTRCB rating: R 13
CINEMA rating: V
18 (For viewers 18 years old and
above )
Sofie (Sharon Stone) is a TV news reporter for a
conservative television news station. When she calls up her brother Aaron
(Billy Zane) one night, she hears gunshots on the other end. Fearing for the
life of her brother, Sofie goes all the way to Mexico where her brother works
to track him down. She learns that her brother has been involved in some
illegal operations that brought in illegal immigrants (who attempt to cross the
border from Mexico) into the United States. Her search leads her into joining a
group of Mexicans trying to get across the border. In no time, she starts to
discover and witness for herself the harsh realities that these immigrants are
going through—that these trips are rather dangerous, and much worse, these
operations are linked to the region’s most dangerous drug cartels.
The Mule could have been an attempt
to expose the plight of illegal immigrants in the United States, but it utterly
fails in its execution as it merely focuses on the journey of a white American
woman in search of her brother. This has put the main core of the issue into
the backdrop. The story seems compelling at the start but it does not go beyond
the soap operatic conventions of melodrama and thriller. But then, the film’s realistic
approach effectively captures the audience’s emotions—making their hearts go
for the marginalized characters. However, some unnecessary plot innuendos
distract the film’s central theme. The love angle seems out of place and the
villainous portrayal goes beyond believable and borders on the laughable.
Sharon Stone’s acting tends to be bigger than what is supposed to be, making
the film devoid of any subtlety to put the message across. Still The Mule is able to once again open a
seemingly relevant issue of the times and could still be worth the audience’s
while.
The Mule has this ambition of
depicting the realities of illegal immigrants in the most realistic way
possible. Thus, the darkness and grit are depicted to the fullest extent way
beyond the imagination. The result
disturbs both the heart and the mind of the audience as they are exposed to the
harsh realities of the link between poverty and migration. However, the film
may have gone a little bit too far and CINEMA fears that younger audiences may
be desensitized by the images of gore and violence. Although at the core of the
story is the fraternal love that propels a woman’s quest for truth, and towards
the end, amidst deception, love prevails; still the darkness, vulgar language,
and horror in the film is so powerful that it may shake young audiences’ values
and faith in the humankind, leading them to question, “If such a violent,
heartless world really does exists, where is God amidst all these?” The film
subtly depicts the characters as coming from a deeply religious region, (one
character wears a shirt with the image of Our Lady of Guadalupe), but God seems
to have no place in this world where money and worldly ambitions rule. In the
film, humans act and are treated like animals. There is utter disrespect for
women and children. Such depictions may be taken into the context of dark
realities but such darkness may crush the spirit of the young rather than
inspire, so CINEMA deems The Mule as
suitable only for mature audiences ages 18 and above.
