MEXICO CITY — It would be easy to think of Luis Mandoki's "¿Quien Es el Sr. Lopez?" (Who Is Mr. Lopez?) as the Mexican "Fahrenheit 9/11" in reverse. Superficially, at least, the comparisons are tempting.
Like Michael Moore's "Fahrenheit," "Sr. Lopez" presents a documentary portrait of a politician who's been adulated by some and loathed by others. In "Fahrenheit," of course, that figure is George W. Bush, depicted as a bumbler reading stories about pet goats while the twin towers went up in flames.
In Mandoki's film, center stage belongs to Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador: former Mexico City mayor, front-runner for Mexico's July 2 presidential election and, depending on whom you ask, either the country's best hope for a democratic future or the second coming of Venezuelan leftist strongman Hugo Chavez, considered the Antichrist on Wall Street and in the White House.
There's another parallel between the films: "Fahrenheit" was released ahead of the 2004 U.S. presidential showdown, in hopes of swaying voters against reelecting Bush. Mandoki, a Mexican-born, veteran Hollywood director best known for romantic dramas such as "White Palace" and "Message in a Bottle," rejects the idea that his film's overall favorable depiction of Lopez Obrador may be serving as campaign propaganda.
Nevertheless, reversing his earlier decision to keep the film under wraps until after the election, Mandoki has decided to release "Sr. Lopez" on DVD, in three parts, beginning with the first installment Thursday, to help Mexican voters decide about Lopez Obrador, he said. Although he acknowledges it could aid the candidate's campaign, Mandoki insists his film isn't partisan.
"People ask me, 'But you're not objective.' Nobody's objective, you know? Death is objective," Mandoki said, holding forth at a cafe here. "But for me, it's very obvious that, for the first time since I was born in this country, there's a good possibility of someone who really is going to help this country, who's going to make this country become a better country, in many ways."
Mandoki, who was given virtually unrestricted access to the candidate, said his movie offers an intimate look at the left-leaning Lopez Obrador, who in some ways remains an enigma despite his decades-long public career.
