Alejandro González Iñárritu: There's a 'racist undercurrent' among critics of his latest film Bardo
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Oscar-winning Birdman and The Revenant filmmaker Alejandro Gonzalez Iñárritu feels there's been a "racist undercurrent" to critics of his new movie, Bardo (False Chronicle of a Handful of Truths), which has premieres at the Venice Film Festival in Italy and Telluride Film Festival in the U.S.
"You can like it or not — that's not the discussion. But for me, there's a kind of racist undercurrent where because I'm Mexican, I'm pretentious," Iñárritu says to the Los Angeles Times in an interview. "If you don't understand something, you don't need to blame anybody. Guys, take a little time and see all the layers. Every artist has the right to express himself the way he wants without being accused of being self-indulgent. I hope somebody can turn down that narrative, which is very reductive and a little racist, I have to say."
Iñárritu explains why such an undercurrent persists, as he laughs his "ass off" when he sees claims that he's "self-indulgent" and "too pretentious."
Bardo follows Mexican journalist and documentary filmmaker Silverio Gama (Daniel Giménez Cacho) as he returns to his native country after winning a prestigious international award. The trip sends Silverio on an existential journey that involves his memories, his fears, the history of Mexico, and the concepts of identity, mortality, and success.
"I think that I have the right to explore identity because I have been through this sense of displacement and I think I have the right to talk about that," Iñárritu says. "I think I have the right to talk about the collective identity of my own country. This film is a love letter to my country, and I have the privilege that I can use my voice to really talk not only for Mexicans but for anyone who feels displaced."
"If I maybe was from Denmark or if I was Swedish I would be a philosopher. But because I did it in a powerful way visually I am pretentious because I'm Mexican," he adds. "If you're a Mexican and you make a film like that, you're a pretentious guy. I don't know if [the critics] have read Jorge Luis Borges or Jorge Cortázar or Juan Rulfo, but they should read where these things come from and our imaginary tradition of combined time and space in the literature of Latin America. This, for me, is the basis of the film."
Iñárritu says he hasn't read a review of Bardo in full yet, though his team gives him notes on what the critical reception has been thus far.
In a separate interview with Vanity Fair, he said, "I respect anybody's opinion. I think everybody has a heart and everybody has a mind and they can make their own conclusions." Though, he added of the "self-indulgent" and "narcissistic" notes, "It's a shame that people misunderstood that, and that can impregnate the whole perception. I feel that, cinematically, I know what I achieved."
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