Released in March 2023, ¡Que viva México! confirmed that Luis Estrada was not willing to remain silent in the face of the new party in power. After satirizing the old PRI in La ley de Herodes, the government of Vicente Fox in Un mundo maravilloso, the administration of Felipe Calderón in El infierno, and the presidency of Enrique Peña Nieto in La dictadura perfecta, the director turned his attention toward Morena and the so-called Fourth Transformation led at the time by Andrés Manuel López Obrador.
The story follows Pancho Reyes, played by Alfonso Herrera, a middle-class man who left his hometown and distanced himself from his impoverished family. When his grandfather dies, Pancho returns with his wife and children, hoping to inherit a valuable fortune. However, the prospect of wealth awakens greed, resentment, and violence among the members of the Reyes family. La Prosperidad, the fictional town where the story takes place, ultimately becomes a grotesque representation of Mexico.
The film’s most direct criticism of Morena appears through Regino, the corrupt mayor portrayed by Damián Alcázar. The character proudly explains that he previously belonged to other political parties before eventually joining Morena after realizing where the power had shifted. His office is decorated with photographs showing him alongside presidents from different administrations, while a portrait of López Obrador occupies a prominent place. The satire is unmistakable: the politician changes parties, rhetoric, and colors, yet keeps exactly the same practices.
Through this character, Estrada presents one of the film’s most uncomfortable accusations: Morena promised to break with the old political system, yet ultimately welcomed many politicians who had been shaped by the very parties it claimed to oppose. The film does not argue that every member of Morena is the same, but it uses satire to question whether genuine transformation is possible when the same political figures simply switch jerseys.
The film also mocks several expressions commonly used during López Obrador’s administration. Pancho is repeatedly labeled an “aspirationist” and a “fifí,” while his relatives portray themselves as representatives of the poor and forgotten people. However, Estrada idealizes neither side: the wealthy are depicted as classist, selfish, and greedy, while the poor are portrayed as resentful, opportunistic, and equally capable of destroying one another over money.
The intention is to illustrate the danger of dividing the country into supposed heroes and villains, into “the people” and their enemies. Estrada himself explained that he set the film during the era of the Fourth Transformation to reflect on intolerance and political polarization, an environment in which anyone who questions the government can immediately be labeled as belonging to the opposing side.
For that reason, although ¡Que viva México! contains sharp criticism of Morena and López Obrador, it would be inaccurate to describe it simply as anti-Morena propaganda. The film also targets exploitative business owners, the middle class obsessed with appearances, foreign companies interested in Mexico’s natural resources, the Catholic Church, corrupt authorities, and a society in which envy and self-interest ultimately prevail over any moral principle. The Reyes family functions as a miniature version of the country where virtually no one remains innocent.
The presidential reaction confirmed that the film had struck a sensitive nerve. López Obrador dismissed it as a “turkey” made for conservative audiences and accused Estrada of presenting a classist and distorted vision of Mexico. Estrada responded that it was troubling for a president to spend time discrediting a satirical film, especially one he had not yet watched in its entirety.
¡Que viva México! may be excessive, uncomfortable, and deliberately offensive. Its characters are exaggerated caricatures, and many viewers argued that the film relied too heavily on cruel stereotypes. Yet that is precisely the essence of Luis Estrada’s satire: to exaggerate society’s flaws until they become impossible to ignore.
Its final message is devastating. Political parties may change, rhetoric may evolve, and governments may promise historic transformation, but as long as corruption, opportunism, intolerance, and the cult of power endure, Mexico will continue repeating the same mistakes. The criticism of Morena is not merely that it resembles previous governments, but rather that no political movement can truly transform the country if it ends up reproducing the very practices it once swore to eliminate.
Source: mexicodailypost
