Oscar winner Inarritu presses for change in native Mexico

Yahoo – AFP, February 24, 2015

Director Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu, winner for the Best Picture award for
"Birdman" poses in the press room during the 87th Oscars on February 22,
2015, in Hollywood, California (AFP Photo/Frederic J. Brown)

Mexico City (AFP) - Film director Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu, fresh from his Oscars triumph for "Birdman," spoke out again Tuesday against corruption and impunity in his native Mexico, saying they had reached "intolerable levels."

Public reaction here has been intense since Inarritu accepted the Oscar for best picture on Sunday with an anguished plea that Mexicans "find and build the government that we deserve."

It was widely interpreted as a knock against President Enrique Pena Nieto, who quickly responded with a defense of his government's efforts to help individuals find a path to success.

"The government that we deserve" is a trending topic on Twitter in Mexico, and a forum for criticism of Pena Nieto's government.

Inarritu didn't let up Tuesday, expanding on his Oscars remarks in an interview with MVS Radio.

"I think the level of dissatisfaction, of injustice, of corruption, of impunity have reached intolerable levels," he said.

"I don't know what the solution is. I wouldn't dare to say because I am not a political expert. But I do have desires and feel that all Mexicans feel the same despair over the distressing situation we're living through now," he said.

Mexico is still reeling from the disappearance and presumed massacre of 43 students from a teacher's college in the southern state of Guerrero last September, a case blamed on corrupt police and drug traffickers but still unresolved.

"We all agree on the things that must change once and for all," said Inarritu, adding that Mexicans should fight together for "a life that is more worthy (...) more secure, with more guarantees and with more rights."

Besides the best picture award for "Birdman", Inarritu himself also took home Oscars for best director and best screenplay. The film also won the Oscar for best cinematography, which went to fellow Mexican Emmanuel Lubezki.