City Rep.: El Paso must ‘fight back’ against ‘Sicario’ border image

City Rep. Peter Svarzbein hopes to find ways to fight the perception of violence and a “lawless” border that’s perpetuated by films such as the newly released “Sicario” and the Netflix series “narcos.”

“It’s not a question of this didn’t happen and white washing history but to go and say that this is the only kind of story that can be told about the border: one dealing with drug running one dealing with violence, one dealing with murder, is an inaccuracy,” Svarzbein said of “Sicario” in an interview Wednesday.

Svarzbein is hosting a panel discussion after a screening of “Sicario” at the Cinemark on Remcon Circle in West El Paso Sunday afternoon.

“Rather than sitting on the sidelines and saying ‘gosh here’s another movie that’s showing our region in a negative light.’ I thought that we could do something a little more proactive and constructive and have a discussion about it,” he said.

Residents are encouraged to come to the discussion with ideas on how the City of El Paso and the community can combat the violent perception of the U.S. – Mexico border.

The movie begins at 4:25pm and after the screening, movie-goers can listen to a panel discussion with State Rep. Joe Moody (D – El Paso) and Dr. Richard Pineda, the Director of the Sam Donaldson Center for Communication Studies at the University of Texas at El Paso. Residents will have to purchase their own ticket to the movie. The discussion will take place at the West Side Regional Command Center.

“I think it’s important that we stand up for ourselves and say your movie that is for entertainment purposes is de facto social commentary “, said Svarzbein.

“Sicario” stars Emily Blunt, Benicio del Toro and Josh Brolin and has been named one of the 30 most anticipated films of Oscar season, according to Variety. The movie synopsis calls the border “lawless” and centers around an idealist FBI agent tasked with fighting the drug war. The film and its stars received a seven-minute standing ovation after it debuted at the Cannes Film Festival this spring.

Juarez Mayor Enrique Serrano recently asked Juarez residents to boycott the movie, saying the film doesn’t convey the violence is not as rampant as it was six years ago. Svarzbein said he understood Serrano’s sentiment but doesn’t think boycotting the film will be effective, saying instead the border community should publicly denounce the violent image of the border.

He said he had been contacted by a news outlet in San Francisco on Wednesday asking him about the film.

“There are ways that a local story can go global. It starts with people talking. it starts with people thinking about it and then action can come from that. Why can’t there be a romantic comedy that’s set on the border? Right? Why can’t that happen?”

Correction: An earlier version of this story stated U.S. Rep. Beto O’Rourke would be at the panel discussion after the movie. He will not be attending.

More On “Sicario”

Watch Deadline Hollywood’s interviews with Blunt, Del Toro, Brolin, and the director athttp://bit.ly/1Ot0TbV Watch 1st official trailer athttp://bit.ly/1HLOXfP Watch 2nd official trailer athttp://bit.ly/1UDcJ54 Featurette on Blunt’s character, Kate Macerhttp://bit.ly/1OsZF0s Clip of raid in filmhttp://bit.ly/1NYh6c7 While the movie is set in El Paso and Juarez it was filmed in Albuquerque, according to the movie’s IMDB page. Below is the synopsis of the film from the officialwebsite. “In the lawless border area stretching between the U.S. and Mexico, an idealistic FBI agent Kate (Blunt) is enlisted by an elite government task force official (Brolin) to aid in the escalating war against drugs. Led by an enigmatic consultant with a questionable past (Del Toro), the team sets out on a clandestine journey forcing Kate to question everything that she believes in order to survive.”
“Sicario” is a Lionsgate presentation, a Black Label Media presentation, a Thunder Road production, a Denis Villeneuve film.