Gael García Bernal gives a performance of pure triumphant joy in Cassandro. This Sundance premiere is a little firecracker of a movie that affords the Mexican actor his best role yet. García plays Saúl Armendáriz, a Lucha Libre wrestler in El Paso, Texas. A small man with a strong fire, Saúl wrestles under the guise of “El Topo.” The name is drolly ironic given Saúl’s twinkish frame compared to the beefy stature of his competitors. The wrestling act usually requires El Topo to run around the ring like a Chihuahua, evading his competitors before they throw him over the ropes. Saúl wants more though. Under the nacho cheese of the Lucha Libre mask, he’s not himself. He’s still in hiding and denying himself to the world.
Saúl therefore decides it’s time for a transformation. Enlisting the help of a professional trainer, Sabrina (Roberta Colindrez), and the unwavering support of his mother, Yocasta (Perla de la Rosa), Saúl emerges anew as Cassandro. His fantastically out-and-proud alter ego is what they call an exótico. It’s a diminutive term for queer wrestlers on the Lucha Libre scene. Exóticos wear sparkly, flamboyant outfits. They sport make-up, rather than masks. They’re the drag queens of the ring, but bound by an unwritten rule: an exótico never wins. However, Cassandro vows that exóticos will bottom no longer.
Out in the Ring
With Sabrina pummeling Saúl into shape and Yocasta providing moral strength—and lending her wardrobe to Saúl’s fashion skills—Cassandro takes shape. His first gig in the ring, however, shows what he’s up against. Sabrina informs a bookie that this red-hot exótico is going to win. He scoffs her off and, when Cassandro takes the ring to the tune of “I Will Survive,” it’s clear the audience has him pegged. Everyone in the room wants to see the little guy pummelled.
Saúl fights with renewed vigour as Cassandro, though. His throws his competitor for a loop by refusing to back down. The audience quickly adores his flamboyant badassery and flashy moves. They’re hurling homophobic slurs one minute and cheering his name the next. A star is born as Cassandro becomes an underdog champion for all.
Saúl’s fight, moreover, isn’t just about the ring. As he pushes against the status quo and forges his own role in a field and society that try to put him in a box, his fight becomes a welcome parable for rejecting labels, gender roles, and social norms. It’s a refreshing underdog story with a big heart.
Outside the ring, Saúl encounters battles for love and acceptance that are even harder fights. He longs to connect with his estranged father. Saúl and Yocasta make trips to watch his father play baseball, both longing for him to return. Meanwhile, he keeps his relationship with his lover Gerardo (The Inspection’s Raúl Castillo, a smouldering presence as always) a secret. Gerardo, a fellow wrestler, is married to a woman and has a family. He and Saúl only meet on the sly, living double lives while thriving in a profession that’s deeply homophobic.
García the Heavyweight
Cassandro marks the dramatic debut for Oscar winning documentary filmmaker Rogers Ross Williams (Life, Animated). The film draws upon a true story and Williams roots Saúl’s story in realism. The bordertown setting evokes Saúl’s experience straddling two worlds, while Williams injects the film with the codes of masculinity that are entailed in wrestling church, but the film also sees Cassandro carry the weight of expectations held by parents who crossed to provide him a better life.
Fans who saw the documentary Out in the Ring, moreover, will find that Cassandro’s tale resonates with the wrestling scene. The stories of Ry Levey’s doc about LGBTQ wrestlers echoes in the homophobic slurs and violence that Saúl encounters. Yocasta worries that her son will face reprisals by those who want to uphold the status quo and, as Saúl readies for the fight of his life, Williams injects the film with palpable dramatic stakes as Cassandro prepares for his biggest spotlight.
García, too, relishes the spotlight here. The actor delivers his best performance since Pedro Almodóvar’s Bad Education. Perhaps it’s coincidental, but drag becomes Gael García Bernal. His performance as Cassandro delivers a buoyant jolt of light, energy, and infectious optimism. He’s also never had such strong screen presence in a film, rocking some beefed-out thunder thighs in tight denim booty shorts and body suits. This performance, really, is confidence personified. He’s a pure delight to watch as he acts with all his heart. The peppy gaiety yields to heartfelt emotion, though, as Saúl refuses to tap out of his bigger fights. When García lets the full weight of Saúl’s desire to be loved surface, Cassandro wins in a knock-out.
