Ladron que roba a ladron

Ladron que roba a ladron is pretty much Ocean’s Eleven for the Hispanic population in this country. Two honorable thieves recruit a group of immigrants to rob a well established Latino businessman who has accumulated a fortune by selling fake products on TV aimed at desperate immigrants.

Just because it is a Spanish language movie and features a largely Latino cast, one should not confuse it with any of those high art films made the famous Three Amigos of Mexican film (Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu, Alfonso Cuaron and Guillermo del Toro). In fact, this movie is directed by an American director and most of the stars in the film also reside in Miami area. Director Joe Menedez was born in New York City to Cuban exile parents and his production company produced this film, so Ladron que roba a ladron is actually a bona fide American movie.

Menedez is a competent director, but neither ambitious nor daring. The film closely follows the mold of Hollywood caper movies, but it manages to make the plot feel fresh by adding the Latin flavor and cleverly using American stereotypes about Hispanic immigrants. The fact that a Spanish language movie is not only made in America, but also released into theaters which cater largely to the non-Hispanic population demonstrates the increasing clout of Hispanic immigrants on this country. The most memorable line in the movie is actually spoken in English. One of the robbery gang shouts to a security guard, “Hey, you are in America! Learn Spanish.” Dialogue like that will sure give Lou Dobbs a heart attack.

The movie may not have much artistic creativity or cinematic ingenuity, but all the characters are likable, the cast is solid and it is definitely entertaining to see how the gang pulls out their robbery in a bright daylight. Aside from the entertainment factor, it may be an important milestone in US film history and starts a wave of Spanish language movies. Indeed, one of the previews shown before this movie was even done completely in Spanish. Lou Dobbs may really need to start honing his Spanish.