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Violence, drugs, corruption: On 200th birthday, Mexico troubled by what it sees in the mirror

The movie that Mexican director Luis Estrada is putting out for his country's bicentennial is bluntly named "Hell."

Like many Mexicans, Estrada says there is little to celebrate in Mexico today, with its violence, corruption and inequity. Yet in another way, the harshly critical movie shows how far the country has come — it was made with government funding, and nobody tried to censor it.

The bicentennial marks the 1810 uprising led by Catholic priest Miguel Hidalgo, who gathered a band of Indians and farmers under the banner of the dark-skinned Virgin of Guadalupe. He was caught and executed soon afterward, but by 1821 the movement he started ousted the Spanish, a feat Mexicans celebrate Sept. 15-16....

Read entire article at AP