“Mexico is a racist country that denies being so. With arguments such as “It is not racism, but classism”, “Here we are all mestizos” or “There was never a segregationist system like in the United States” we deny that we have perpetuated discrimination for generations ». This is read in Orgullo prieto, Namor’s recently published book. Sorry, of Tenoch Huerta. This 41-year-old Mexican is called to be the great revelation of Wakanda forever, the latest Marvel installment (and there are 30), the second in the Black Panther series launched in 2018 and the first without its emblematic protagonist Chadwick Boseman at the helm (he died in August 2020 due to cancer).
And it would seem that the reasons for his stardom are exactly the opposite of the usual ones. Neither his musculature shows off the shine of others like Thor -which was the subject of controversy on Twitter among the fans most prone to vigorexia-, nor does his goodness resist the most elementary test of cotton -in fact, he is the almost bad guy in the movie -, nor does he resist offering his opinions as committed as they are irritating among the growing and very cynical universe antiwoke to anyone who dares to ask. «I am a man of the left. As an artist you have to define yourself. If you don’t, you’re either a coward or just an ornament.”. It is clear.
The actor receives us via Zoom and with time duly measured as it is for a global premiere that will hit the billboard on Friday with the mission of breaking all records. If the previous episode of the panther became the first film in the genre most hated by Scorsese to be nominated for an Oscar for best picture (in addition to amassing $1.35 billion worldwide), the idea is that now more. The greater the commitment after the death of the iconic Boseman, the greater the budget and the longer the duration (two hours and 40 minutes of fleece). Everything more. “It is without a doubt a great opportunity. In addition to a responsibility. It’s not that my character is exactly the first Latino superhero, but I am the first whose origin is a Mesoamerican culture like the Maya. I embody the first radically South American superhero», says. Indeed, the writers mutatis mutandishave transformed the underwater prince Namor created by Bill Everett into a kind of amphibious survivor of what our beloved Spain left unexterminated back in times of encounters that were also conquests.
“It is not about giving a voice to those who do not have it,” continues Huerta. «We have the voice, what we did not have are the microphones. It is not only occupying the spaces but how they are occupied and what image and representation is achieved. This film generates the space and dignified, profound and beautiful representation of both African American and original American culture. It is about opening new horizons, new, more satisfying realities.”
Huerta declares himself a supporter of historical revisionism, which refers to a counterfactual future (what would have happened if?) as well as to the most remote past. And he does it with all the consequences. «It is necessary to look at our History and call each thing by its name. Recognize what meaning it has, what impact and what wounds it has caused. And that includes pointing out both the positive and the negative. In the history of Latin America, always underlining the positive has only served to cover everything up. The result is that pain has ended up being denied. And when you deny people’s pain, you deny their existence, you deny their wounds, and you deny everything that defines their identity.”. Pause. «And I am not referring only to the Spanish legacy. Also Mexico, my country, has to review the violence it has exerted on indigenous cultures.