MICGénero 2014 Review: MI VIDA ES UN ALBUR, Or, Being A Tough Woman In Tepito

Mi Vida Es Un Albur is a documentary set in the "barrio bravo" Tepito, one of Mexico's toughest neighborhoods. Located in downtown Mexico City, very near Garibaldi and the Palace of Fine Arts, Tepito is best known for its enormous open-air market, where all kinds of things are sold, including tons of pirate material. Tepito has been historically connected to violence too; you shouldn't be surprised if you're there and you hear some gunshots. It is that kind of place.

As protagonist, the doc has a woman from Tepito named Lourdes, who used to sell pirate products and now works selling children's clothing. While the film opens showcasing the business aspect of the barrio, as Lourdes indicates that she won enough money through piracy to "travel all around the world" (yes, Tepito means real money), it soon becomes a simple portrait of a hard-working woman, with hints of the cultural side of this unique hood.

Mi Vida Es Un Albur is - obviously - very, very Mexican. Its title indicates that one of the most Mexican things ever is going to be explored: the albur (the translation of the title would be "my life is an albur"). Actually, Lourdes has had a lifelong love for the "albures", and is relatively famous for her ability on that regard; hence this wasn't the first time someone interviewed her.

It is hard to define what an albur is, but based on Lourdes' very own definitions, let's say is a play on the language to give double or triple meaning to words in order to poke fun at someone else. It is usually related to sex, in an obscene but not aggressive manner. Lourdes says someone who curses is not an albur master but rather just a rude person; and that's the trick, you must be as vulgar and as wise-ass as possible without cursing.

While Mi Vida Es Un Albur shows Lourdes's rather odd and curious labor as some sort-of teacher of this verbal art, the main subject of the film is not the albur thing, as I thought for a moment. It really covers her whole life, while connecting certain elements to a wider picture of Tepito.

Lasting only 50 minutes, the film still manages to make us understand who this woman Lourdes is. In a way, her life shouldn't be much different to that of many other people from Tepito, or any inner city for that matter. A difficult past full of addictions, problems with her family, and real tragedies (her two brothers were murdered), is what Lourdes must live with.

The doc connects, for example, the murder of her brothers to how Tepito sees death in general, as the place is distinctive as well for holding a cult towards the Santa Muerte (Holy Death). While we hear Lourdes' voice, and learn about her stories, the images that we see are footage obtained from being in Tepito during such public manifestations as a soccer game, a big dance, or a Holy Death-related event. It's not a definitive portrait of Tepito, but then again, it doesn't really try to be that.

In the end, Mi Vida Es Un Albur is about living as a woman in a rough place - where machismo is a common thing - and facing all kinds of adversities. For Lourdes, life has not been kind always (she has lived with cancer for many years also), but she remains strong, vivid, and with the clear goal of raising well her young adoptive daughter. Mi Vida Es Un Albur is, quite simply, life seen through the eyes of this tough woman.

Mi Vida Es Un Albur screens in Mexico City, as part of MICGénero 2014, on Tuesday, September 16 and Sunday, September 28. For additional information, please visit the festival's official site.