I Saw the Best Minds of My Generation Destroyed by Amar Te Duele
General Reviews
Did you know love was invented in 2002 in Mexico City? It's true, ask your parents. They made you without making love. Before 2002, we had approximations, love-adjacent ideas and actions. Divine love, carnal love, filial love. Every word ever written or spoken about love before that fateful year was categorically wrong because love had never been invented.
But then a film came out and it showed the world, particularly my peers, what love looks like: the girl you love is orange, and you're blue.
Look at that poster. First of all, you can just tell it is the perfect token of its time. It reminds me a lot of Tony Hawk's Underground 2, which came out around the same time and also invented a different kind of love, a love for sick tricks.
Both images reek of early 2000s youth culture, which was aspirational for me. I didn't skateboard, I didn't break hearts, but I would eventually become a master at both. I propose a theory: orange in this context signifies the rebellious energy of the teenager. I don't have more proof than this, but I also don't believe I'm wrong. Now, go back to the first poster and notice the blue. That's easy, it signifies blue balls and being sad and lonely and misunderstood. Basically, blue means Simple Plan's "Welcome to my life". Quote me on that.
And you know what film perfectly encapsulates both orange and blue energy? I'll give you a hint, I already showed you the poster.
Yes, I'm talking about Amar Te Duele, known in English as Love Hurts (but should actually be known as The Bible). The movie is a loose adaptation of Romeo and Juliet set in Mexico City; the twist is that Renata is rich and white, and Ulises is poor and brown.
Be honest, did you know that people of different colours could fall in love with each other? Before this movie, no one had even thought about it.
Just because a film invented love doesn't mean it has much artistic merit. Amar Te Duele is not a good film, and all the tears I've cried when watching it can't change that fact. In fact, we may not have noticed at the time, but the message in this film is kinda fucked. Don't worry, I'll spell it out for you before the article ends, but I trust you can figure out on your own what's weird about it.
As we've covered, it feels extremely 2000s but in an annoying way. The film tries to remind you about its expiry date all the time. Every three minutes there's a song. Granted, it might be a fucking banger, because this film's soundtrack is a museum by itself. Still, the constant musical interruptions feel more like a crutch than anything else.
When it came out, critics hated the music video aesthetic the film went with. It is weird and distracting in some scenes, and just plain terrible in others. Yes, I agree with all of that. The music and the visual aesthetic were there to distract from the fact that the writing sucks and the directing is wonky.
But who cares about that? Amar Te Duele gave us much more than that. First of all, it was a sexual awakening for some. My horny prepubescent friends would talk at length about the scene where Martha Higareda, who plays Renata, is almost topless in front of the mirror, and they would do this constantly. They would hyper fixate on this aspect of the film, where you can't even see a boob, and it would dominate entire conversations. One thing the movie got right about my generation: we're fucking horndogs.
Sorry... I got sidetracked. That scene,man. What was I saying? Oh, right. The main thing the film gave us was love, or at least a way of understanding it. An extremely toxic way, but that's culture too.
Ulises and Renata are as different as they can be. To illustrate: Renata is dating an older guy, but they've never had sex. He pressures her a bit, but she always says no. Classic teenager stuff from a boring, rich family. At the same time, Ulises goes to a rave under a bridge and has sex just a few feet away from a guy swallowing fire. Average Friday night for a Mexican dude.
Obviously, Ulises and Renata can't be together. Their families don't approve of the relationship, and their friends mock them for trying to be something they're not. Renata's parents remind her that "he's not like us". In case you don't understand, they mean he's poor and darker. Meanwhile, Ulises' friends try to make it clear that he's not on her level.
I don't want to spoil the ending, but I've already told you it's based on Romeo and Juliet, so that puts me in a tough spot.
Their love is so wrong people end up in the hospital because of it. At one point, Ulises' poor friends attack the rich kids' school and start a brawl/riot that sends one of them to the ICU. But their love is so strong they don't give a single fuck about this.
Renata and Ulises plan to escape to another city where they can live in interracial love with no money, no education, no friends, no family, and no plan. The dream, as I call it. However, before they get on the bus that's going to take them to what promises to be the best decision ever made, Renata's sister shows up to stop them. She's there with Renata's old boy-toy, Francisco. He's also rich and, most importantly, likes playing with his dad's gun.
They try to stop Renata from leaving and Ulises doesn't like it, so he gets aggressive. Franciso tells him that, if he keeps getting closer, he'll shoot.
Of course, Franciso shoots and kills Renata. The scream that comes out of Ulises is famous. People on the street will yell Renata! just for fun, or when their hearts are broken. It's kind of a joke or a meme, but also real and painful.
That's true love. Love is supposed to hurt, it is the one thing I've learned. Actually, it might be the only thing that, we, as a generation, have learned. After witnessing my friend's relationships over the years, it seems like they've all decided to live by Amar Te Duele's ethos.
When you find someone you love, completely eradicate their thoughts and mold them into your own worldview. That's what Ulises does with Renata, and he's romantic as fuck.
When you find someone you love, destroy every relationship they have. Make them grow apart from their siblings, their parents, their friends. You're the only one they need.
When you find someone you love, fuck your life up for them and demand they do the same. That's the love that we grew up with, and the only one that matters.
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