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On the surface, “The Suicide Squad” is not a movie with geopolitics on its mind, but its backdrop is not devoid of significance.<\/p>\n
Shot in\u00a0Panama<\/a>\u00a0with signifiers that speak directly to its history with military dictatorships, \u201cThe Suicide Squad\u201d has more layers than its absurd concept would suggest, even if it reduces them to B-movie conceits along with everything else on the screen.\u00a0On the surface, \u201cThe Suicide Squad\u201d is not a movie with geopolitics on its mind. Writer\/director James Gunn\u2019s hard-R supervillain romp is a loud, bloody, men-on-a-mission riff that owes more to Sam Peckinpah and Gunn\u2019s own zany \u201cGuardians of the Galaxy\u201d than anything with complex historical connotations. Nevertheless, they\u2019re hiding in plain sight, whether or not Gunn intended them to be there.<\/p>\n The bulk of the movie takes place on the fictional island nation of Corto Maltese, and while its protagonists spend much of the time battling their way through scores of baddies and one giant kaiju menace, they\u2019re surrounded by a far more grounded conundrum \u2014 one that finds Mayor General Mateo Suarez (Joaqu\u00edn Cos\u00edo) taking over from General Silvio Luna (Juan Diego Botto), whose family has ruled the country for generations. As the Squad make their way toward an old Nazi compound to eliminate an extraterrestrial weapon trapped there decades ago, they do so alongside the efforts of guerrilla fighters (led by Brazilian actress Alice Braga) keen on overthrowing the country\u2019s cruel military dictatorship.<\/p>\n That\u2019s not pure embellishment: Suarez and Luna are cardboard villains, but not ones without real-world connotations, especially in light of the movie\u2019s actual backdrop. Though \u201cThe Suicide Squad\u201d was shot on 11 sound stages, Panama provided the bulk of its exteriors, with both Panama City and Col\u00f3n offering additional context for a movie that wields the concept of Latin American dictatorships like an outsized historical prop. In press notes provided by the studio, production designer Beth Mickle says Col\u00f3n was chosen because \u201cit actually looked like a bomb had gone off and the townsfolk just walked away from the crumbling buildings, but under the dirt and debris are these really vibrant colors.\u201d<\/p>\n That\u2019s a complex, potentially troubling assertion that borders on poverty porn \u2014 the idea that some aspect of genuine decay could be repurposed as entertainment. But it\u2019s also a rather striking description of a country where recent struggles are laid bear, where history sits in plain view. On top of that, the actual plot of \u201cThe Suicide Squad\u201d doubles as a supersized allegory for Panama\u2019s struggles with governmental control over the years, as well as its messy relationship with the United States.<\/p>\n The Central American country has endured two military coups in the last five decades, starting with the regime of the National Police that came to power in 1968, and continuing with arrival of Manuel Noriega in the early \u201980s. Prior to his rule, Noriega was actually employed by the CIA on two equations to help the U.S. beat back the spread of communism and the Sandanistas in Nicaragua. Ironically, it was the U.S. that removed Noriega from power in 1989, ending his repressive rule by sending thousands of troops into the country for a monthlong stand-off that ended in his surrender. The same nation that helped propel the dictator into office eventually took him out.<\/p>\n So it goes with \u201cThe Suicide Squad.\u201d Ultimately, the team of prisoners employed by the American government realizes that they\u2019ve been tasked with taking down Starro, a giant alien starfish that American astronauts nabbed in orbit and brought down to Earth, only to leave him in the hands of a weaker nation willing to do the bidding of its more powerful neighbor. Once Starro is unleashed in the third act, it\u2019s up to the movie\u2019s renegade forces to take down the beast that their employers emboldened in the first place.<\/p>\n As a cinematic rumination on the specter of dictatorship, \u201cThe Suicide Squad\u201d has nothing on the allegorical horror of Pablo Larra\u00edn\u2019s \u201cPost Mortem\u201d or the satirical specificity of Woody Allen\u2019s \u201cBananas.\u201d For all of Gunn\u2019s raucous music cues and vulgar asides, this is pretty dumb stuff. But it\u2019s nevertheless a fascinating example of genuine historical turmoil manifesting in a giant Hollywood blockbuster.<\/p>\n Some may deem the plundering of a third world nation by Hollywood as pure capitalist exploitation \u2014 but the truth is that \u201cThe Suicide Squad\u201d doesn\u2019t turn its imaginary Latin American setting into a caricature any more than it does its ludicrous main characters, from Idris Elba\u2019s cranky sharpshooter Bloodsport to Margot Robie\u2019s giddy psychopath Harley Quinn. Each of their demented misadventures takes place with the underpinnings of some emotional struggle, as they wrestle with their own self-interests to do the right thing. Likewise, Corto Maltese provides an opportunity to explore how military dictatorships can solidify into the status quo until outside forces decide to pay attention. It\u2019s a concept entirely in sync with deeply cynical movie, where the heroes are also the villains and never quite know whose side they\u2019re on.<\/p>\n However one feels about this appropriation in theory, it\u2019s clear that a lot of Panamanians have been hyped for \u201cThe Suicide Squad\u201d ever since Gunn\u00a0tweeted out a photo<\/a>\u00a0from the set. (\u201cI can\u2019t travel to Panama, but I can watch Panama in \u2018Suicide Squad,’\u201d read one\u00a0tweet<\/a>\u00a0from a local living abroad.) \u201cIt was incredible,\u201d Panamanian Film Commissioner Mastellari told me in a brief interview the day \u201cSuicide Squad\u201d hit theaters and VOD. \u201cOur industry is very small here. When a production of this size comes here, it moves everything in our economy and transfers knowledge.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThe Suicide Squad\u201d<\/p>\n Warner Bros.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Warner Bros. approached Panama about shooting there at an auspicious moment, just a few months after the country passed a new law offering a 15-percent cash rebate as a production incentive for any production costing over $500,000. Mastellari estimates that the production $6 million in Panama, marking a key turning point for a country that has provided the backdrop for productions like \u201cParadise Lost\u201d and \u201cQuantum of Solace.\u201d The movie ultimately employed some 600 extras for its dramatic finale. As the country reels from the pandemic and abrasive U.S. headlines about the immigration crisis, its presence in a giant spectacle provides some measure of hope for greater representation, if not in any of the movie\u2019s central roles.<\/p>\n Mastellari hadn\u2019t seen \u201cThe Suicide Squad,\u201d never read a script, and showed little excitement about actually watching the final product. \u201cIt\u2019s not really my type of movie,\u201d she said. Asked about the militaristic context of the narrative, she was equally non-plussed. \u201cPanama is Panama,\u201d she said. \u201cJames Gunn said the filming here was great. It\u2019s all positive for us.\u201d<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.indiewire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/rev-1-TSS-TRL2-88971_High_Res_JPEG-e1626884918499.jpeg?w=780\")
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