When Hollywood And Politics Meet: Machete, Arizona And Immigration Reform

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Yes, “Machete” is actually a real movie, due for release in September, just in time for the midterm election season. And yes, it actually stars Steven Segal and Robert DeNiro and Jessica Alba and Lindsay Lohan (as a socialite/nun, of course) and Cheech, who plays a homicidal priest. But the interesting part, aside from the explosive revenge storyline about an Hispanic day laborer sent to kill a conservative senator, is that writer/director Robert Rodriquez is marketing the film right into the middle of the political firestorm that is now brewing over Arizona’s new illegal immigrant law. This new trailer was re-cut, with a “special Cinco de Mayo message to Arizona.”

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“We didn’t cross the border,” shouts Jessica Alba. “The border crossed us.” This is clearly comedy, yes, an homage to the Blaxploitation films of the 1970s. But let us also admit: humor, violence and politics are a tricky mix.