Cinco de Mayo, May 5, is the official holiday which commemorates the history of the Mexican militia’s victory over the French army at the Battle Of Puebla in 1862. In Mexico, it is mainly celebrated in Puebla, the site of the battle. In the United States, however, it has taken on a life of its own and is actually celebrated more broadly, especially along the U.S.-Mexico border. Cinco de Mayo in the U.S. celebrates the Mexican and Mexican-American and history culture that enriched the United States. Cinco de Mayo is often confused with Mexican Independence Day, which is actually September 16th.

If you want to celebrate Mexican and Mexican-American cinematic culture on Cinco de Mayo, then check out these top cinco movies.

1. Ahí está el detalle (1940), directed by Juan Bustillo Oro, is considered the best film of the comic genius Cantinflas, and established him as the Charlie Chaplin of Mexico. In the film, which is filled with physical comedy and social satire, Cantinflas’s character assumes the identity of the master of a household where his girlfriend is actually a made. The results, which include killing a rabid dog, and blackmailing a gigolo, are hysterical.

2. Los Olvidados (1950), directed by Luis Buñuel is a both surrealistic and neo-realistic depiction of the empoverished and marginilaxized children living in the slums of Mexico City. This film was a success at Cannes where it won Best Director and Best Film and is part of UNESCO’s Memory Of The World Register.

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One thing I’ve always had trouble with is my joint identity as a female and as a cinephile. Many films and directors I like, even love, often treat women in ways that either objectify them or seem to promote the mistreatment of them. But my anger at this is usually brought back down by the little voice inside my head screaming “but it’s such a good movie.”

On that note, yesterday, I noticed that Radar Online posted their take on the “decade’s most misogynistic movies.” Their picks ranged from Mona Lisa Smile and Wedding Crashers to She Hate Me and 13 Going on 30 and while in many cases I agree with their assessment, the list still troubles me. The fact is, despite their misogynistic nature, a lot of folks, women and men alike, went to see these films - and to me then, the questions becomes why? As long as people go to the theater, Hollywood will continue to make these films.

Of course, some might argue that people only see what’s put out there, what they have access to. With that, I present with an opposite list of sorts - “some of the decade’s more feminist movies” if you will - or to be less political about it all, films from this decade that portray real women, dealing with real issues, often showing how awesome, strong, complex and special women can be.

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So I know everyone has already reported on the Sundance Film Festival..blah blah blah. The reason I’ve held out is that I’m in a perpetual state of confusion when it comes to figuring out how I feel about the festival. Ever since the Sundance craze that came about in the 1990’s, it has become increasingly harder for true independent film to flourish. Narrative filmmakers (things are a bit different for documentaries these days - I’ll explore this later on) that get into Sundance seem to need big stars and bigger and bigger budgets as the years progress. This years winner for dramatic audience award went to Jonathan Levine’s The Wackness - it stars Ben Kingsley, Famke Janssen and Mary-Kate Olsen.

Of course there are exceptions - but ever since Sundance became the brand name for independent cinema and a place “to buy” up supposedly independent films, it has become harder and harder for folks who are really independent - ie. filmmakers who want to own their work and those who experiment - to get their work seen. What it comes down to is that Sundance treats films as a business and not as an art..

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