PODCAST| Angelo Acerbi interviews Alonso Ruizpalacios, director of the film Museo.

To listen to the interview, click on the ► icon on the right, just above the picture

Alonso Ruizpalacios wanted to make a heist film, but then he realized that the genre was not enough for this story; so he turned the film into a road movie, and a coming of age movie and a perfect depiction of what urban Mexico was in those days, the fabulous 80’s.

Museo:  Perennial students Juan and Wilson are planning a daring coup. They intend to break into the National Museum of Anthropology in Mexico City and steal precious Mayan, Mixtec and Zapotec artefacts, in particular the funerary mask of King Pakal. While their families celebrate Christmas they get down to business, just like a couple of seasoned criminals. Everything goes off without a hitch and, with their sports bags stuffed full of treasures, they return home to see on the news how their deed is described as an attack on the entire nation. Only now do they realise the gravity of their actions. Feeling more than a little queasy, they set about fencing their haul. The ensuing road movie takes us from the impressive Mayan ruins of Palenque to the chic seaside resort of Acapulco. Even when Juan and Wilson are behind the wheel, their endeavour has long since gone off the rails. Revisiting the true events of 1985 when it was initially thought that professionals had pulled off the heist, the film is as surprising as the original case. Like its heroes, it too has a crafty way of getting down to the nitty-gritty, reinventing itself with every twist, and nodding to several film genres along the way.