THE MASK OF ZORRO

 

THREE STARS - Engaging

 

 

        If there is any lesson we learn from history, it is that the oppressed, the hopeless and the disenfranchised search for a savior.   Life, in its many injustices, enslavements, disappointments and failures, eventually forces each one of us into places of sorrow and pain out of which we long to be set free.  But who can save us?

         Do we need a being from Krypton to come and use super powers to fight for “truth, justice, and the American way?”

        Or perhaps we need an archer with a merry band to steal from the rich and give to the poor.

        Still another choice is that of a night avenger whose bat-like capabilities overpower the greedy grasps of criminal fingers.

        Or perhaps a special agent with sexual charm and indifference to danger  would serve us well.

        Whether it is these or other characteristics we might describe, they can all be found in the powerfully sensual and compelling strength of the newest hero:  Zorro.

        In a masterfully told tale of a champion of the people, director Martin Campbell gives us a Zorro you cannot help but savor.

        And what is all the more insightful is that he is not really a singular person at all, but rather an image of a person whose mask can be passed from hero to hero as the generations change and the despots remain.

        Thus the film is rightfully called, “The MASK of Zorro“,  for it is the mask which covers the legend.

        But it is the mask which is most troubling to us as well.

        In a film that is wonderfully entertaining and plays our emotions and desires as though we are instruments in the hands of a maestro, Director Campbell creates a symphony of vengeance and violence which only masks the hatred of the Zorros.

        Played with a subtle perfection befitting his stature as the aging master now tutoring his pupil, Anthony Hopkins is Zorro, Don Diego de la Vega.  A fighter for the people against the evil Don Rafael Montero (Stuart Wilson), Governor of Alta California.

        But what begins as a desire to use his sword to avenge the exploited poor inevitably escalates. 

        When the Governor identifies his masked nemesis as a fellow Don, he invades his home, overpowers him with his soldiers and destroys his life.

        Zorro’s loss is unbearable.  Not only is his beloved wife killed, but his precious infant daughter is taken as well.

        It is then that Zorro begins a 20 year imprisonment nursing his compounding hatred.

        When he escapes from prison as an older man, Zorro is fatefully reunited with a young man who as a boy twenty years earlier had once helped save his life in battle. 

         A haunted man whose brother had been killed by the evil captain of Don Rafael’s guards, Alejandro Murrieta (Antonio Banderas) becomes Zorro’s pupil and companion in their vengeful crusade.

        But, what makes these two Zorros so powerful is that they “mask their hatred” and methodically plot their revenge.

        Although the film weaves together their vengeance with the just cause of stopping the evil Rafael and his Captain Harrison Love (Matthew Letscher) before they murder hundreds of innocent people, their underlying hatred clearly compels them and eventually focuses the film on their final revenge.

        It is this message which haunts not only them but us as well.

        A savior who wears a mask to hide his hatred is one who cannot bring an end to evil.  There must be more to the nature of our battle than just being able to fight with more skill or daring than those who are perpetrating that evil.

        What we must finally find is a savior who can change the hearts of people, and overcome evil with good, not the sword.

        In a final scene  Zorro De la Vega asks Zorro Murrieta “Is it finished?” when Don Rafael and his captain are killed.

        Based upon what we know about their hearts, their journey is really at the beginning.  Without a heart of compassion these Zorros could become as cold and calculating as their oppressors.

        The moral example Jesus gave us that day has been often repeated throughout the ages as people have chosen the way of sacrifice rather than that of revenge as the way to truly save lives.             

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