El Gueto Analysis

Codirector Joan Cutrina’s experience in the music industry comes through in “El gueto,” which opens with a provocative music video sequence featuring confrontational lyrics by Panamanian reggaesero Latin Fresh. The aforementioned power of “ghetto style” and the mandate to entertain and shock clash in contrasting images of luxurious apartment buildings and squatter communities, international banks and impoverished back alleys, stunning views of the bay and piles of garbage. Cutting through the divergent simulacra of Panamanian reality, Latin Fresh’s lyrics challenge viewers to look beneath the surface: “Don’t think like the rest, who judge all without redress/ Without knowing that the guy with the worn out shoes/ Always makes the honor role

For example, in the closing “Crazy Killa” segment, gang members refuse to provide a satisfactory answer to the interviewer’s question. When asked, “Lolo, what do you think of violence?” the gang member responds by saying, “I am dementia.” Attempting to clarify this cryptic statement, the interviewer insists: “What’s your opinion of violence?” But the interviewee’s body language and dilatory tactics belie the filmmaker’s intentions. After a bit of singing and stalling, Lolo replies: “I am violence. I don’t have anything else to tell you. I am violence.” Still unsatisfied, the interviewer moves on to another young gang member: “What do you think of violence?” He answers flatly: “Es prity” (it’s pretty). Whether a playful refusal or an active embodiment of violent discourse, the affirmation that violence “es prity” unmasks the aesthetic bling and spectacle of violence that the ghetto film genre exploits. The sequence flies in the face of formulaic narratives like “The World’s Most Dangerous Gang,” in which remorseful gang members confess their sins and beg forgiveness for their transgressions. In this exchange and throughout the film, viewers receive no definitive explanations of urban violence. Something about the “real” always defies