Entertainment

In ‘Museo,’ Two Slackers Pull Off a Daring Heist

In 1985, on Christmas Eve, thieves broke into the National Museum of Anthropology in Mexico City and stole nearly 150 Mayan artifacts, including a jade burial mask. That robbery is reconstructed in “Museo,” Alonso Ruizpalacios’ new film, but not quite in the usual based-on-a-true-story heist-movie manner. Slow-moving and grand, with lush music and elegant widescreen compositions, it feels less like a thriller than a poetic, intermittently comic meditation on beauty, history and middle-class disaffection.

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By
A.O. Scott
, New York Times

In 1985, on Christmas Eve, thieves broke into the National Museum of Anthropology in Mexico City and stole nearly 150 Mayan artifacts, including a jade burial mask. That robbery is reconstructed in “Museo,” Alonso Ruizpalacios’ new film, but not quite in the usual based-on-a-true-story heist-movie manner. Slow-moving and grand, with lush music and elegant widescreen compositions, it feels less like a thriller than a poetic, intermittently comic meditation on beauty, history and middle-class disaffection.

The crime is the work not of a gang of criminal geniuses, but of a pair of underachieving suburban 20-somethings — Wilson (Leonardo Ortizgris), the narrator and sidekick, and Juan (Gael García Bernal), the mastermind. They live in Satellite City, a modern development dominated by stark, brightly colored towers. Juan chafes under the disapproving authority of his father (Alfredo Castro), a doctor, and squabbles with his siblings. He’s obnoxious and thoughtless, the kind of guy who ruins Christmas by telling his little nieces and nephews where the presents are hidden.

Wilson, a nervous, sensitive fellow whose mustache somehow has the effect of undermining the machismo it’s meant to enhance, is a classic follower. He would absolutely jump off a bridge if Juan told him to, but he’d have a lot of questions and hesitations before making the leap. What’s remarkable, at least at first, is how easy the caper turns out to be. In the absence of motion detectors or effective security cameras, all that’s required is a modicum of stealth and coordination, and a priceless bundle of cultural patrimony vanishes into the night.

The problem is what to do with the loot. Once the robbery makes the news, it sparks public outrage and indignation, not least from Juan’s father. The boys head south, connecting with a tour guide at a Maya pyramid (Bernardo Velasco) who arranges a meeting with a British collector (Simon Russell Beale). This section of “Museo” is a bouncy, farcical road trip, but it also deepens the film’s slyly patriotic subtext. The story of a pair of clumsy criminals becomes a pretext for celebrating the beauty and complexity of Mexico’s landscape and history.

Ruizpalacios’ first feature, “Güeros,” set during the student protests of the late 1990s and shot in austere black and white, was also about young people revolting against the banality of their lives and trying to take hold of something noble and grand. Such gestures of rebellion may be futile, even ridiculous, and both “Museo” and “Güeros” note the silliness and self-delusions of their characters.

But as comically clueless as Wilson and Juan may be, they aren’t held up for easy, cynical ridicule. Juan’s attraction to the antiquities he covets isn’t motivated only by boredom or greed, but also by a sense of their mystical power. This is particularly true of the green jade mask, an object that the film regards as almost magical.

And despite a meandering story and some fuzzy passages, there is a touch of magic in “Museo,” a sense of wonder and curiosity that imparts palpable excitement. Some of that is the intimation of a strong and original cinematic voice evolving toward the realization of its full potential — the feeling that you might be in the presence of someone who could become the next great Mexican filmmaker.

Production Notes:

‘Museo’

Not rated. In Spanish and English, with English subtitles.

Running time: 2 hours 8 minutes.

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