El Mochaorejas’, the new series starring Mexican actor Damián Alcázar, not only tells the story of a famous kidnapper from the 90’s, but also talks about the “terrible dark and violent layer” that “even today” the country still does not get rid of, according to the interpreter on Friday.
In an interview with EFE, the actor said that the play, based on real events, offers a “very objective and impartial” look at the historical moment in Mexico in the 1990s, when Daniel Arizmendi, a kidnapper who mutilated the ears of his victims to pressure their families into paying the ransom and who is still in prison today, made headlines.
“The script is perfectly, very well written. There is no apology for crime, there is nothing tearful, it is not a melodrama, it is a telenovela (…) It speaks of the Mexico that began to darken a few years before and that we still have not removed that terrible dark and violent layer,” he explained.
For Damián Alcázar, ‘El Mochaorejas’, which premieres this Friday on the Vix platform, conveys a story of “terror”, but also a lesson for families.
“If there is no love, if we make our children see violence, abandonment and deprivation, they are going to be insecure, and then we can have a lot of psychopathy,” he added.
Damián Alcázar and his impeccable trajectory
The actor of films such as ‘The Law of Herod’ (1999) or ‘The Perfect Dictatorship’ (2014) represents in this new project, of eight chapters, a serial killer, to whom he tried to give “as much life as possible” thanks to an “arduous” previous work of documentation of the journalistic chronicle of the time.
From that historical context, Alcazar condemns the “neoliberal technocrats” who governed Mexico in the 1990s, whom he accuses of having destroyed “many companies and miserably lowered salaries”.
“All this generates corruption, impunity and, evidently, hunger. And those three things make violence, because people have to solve their basic problems,” he added.
In his opinion, ‘El Mochaorejas’ is also an effort to represent a period that “cannot be forgotten or kept in a trunk”, so he asked that it be “understood and analyzed” in order to “avoid its resurgence”.
“Mexican humanism” in the face of current problems
That climate of extreme violence described in the series “has not disappeared” -he warned-, because violence “will always be similar” in a country that currently has “other much more serious problems”.
Among them, he highlighted drug trafficking, which “became so violent”.
“It is said that it was because a man made war on them and the only thing he did was to beat the hornet’s nest, so we cannot stop this violence,” he said, referring to the well-known ‘war on drugs’ that was unleashed during the presidency of Felipe Calderón (2006-2012).
He contrasted it with the current political model called “Mexican humanism”, a term coined by former President López Obrador (2018-2024) and constantly vindicated by the current president, Claudia Sheinbuam, which in his opinion is a “new way of looking at society” and which allows “to get people out of their hardship so they can live in harmony”.
He summed it up in ideals such as the sharing of wealth or the administration of justice to “put an end to corruption”, reported Agencia EFE, something which, he assured, could be a “model” for neighboring countries because “many will want to be like that”.
Here you can see the trailer of ‘El Mochaorejas’.
Find out more at ‘QueOnnda.com’.
