Netflix to stream political satire “The Perfect Dictatorship”

PanARMENIAN.Net - Starting June 1st, Netflix will be streaming Luis Estrada’s biting political satire “The Perfect Dictatorship” (“La Dictadura Perfecta”) in the U.S., Variety reports.

Released in Mexico in October, the tragi-comedy quickly racked up ticket sales to become 2014’s highest grossing local pic, attracting 4.2 million admissions and earning some $13 million (189.2 million pesos) to become the fourth top grossing pic in Mexican film history.

Box office was likely stoked by the controversy around Estrada’s latest opus, a thinly veiled critique of the Mexican media, specifically media giant Televisa, and its alleged collusion with the dominant political party in Mexico, the PRI. Televisa’s distrib Videocine backed out of its agreement to release the satire after seeing a cut. Estrada had to distribute pic himself along with indie distrib Alphaville.

Estrada is no stranger to controversy. His previous pics “Herod’s Law” (“La Ley de Herodes”) and “Hell” (“El Inferno”) skewered the corruption in Mexican politics and the government’s inept handling of the drug violence in the country, respectively. The former was censored by the Mexican administration.

“The Perfect Dictatorship” is toplined by Damian Alcazar (“The Chronicles of Narnia”) and a cast that includes some telenovela thesps, some of whom – ironically – have worked for Televisa. Multi-awarded Basque cinematographer Javier Aguirresarobe, whose credits include “Vicky Cristina Barcelona,” “The Others” and “The Twilight Saga: New Moon,” lensed the satire. Estrada co-penned and produced the pic.