Seite - 155 - in JRFM - Journal Religion Film Media, Band 05/02

films give the sport greater visibility, she laments that “ripped from its histori- cal and social context, these representations of lucha libre tend to emphasize its ‘wacky’ qualities”.52 Ilán Stavans, however, provides a different perspective when he states that the film’s “apparent bad taste in popular Mexican arti- facts” imbues it with “subversive power”.53 Both critics make crucial observa- tions, and I extend their work by showing how Hess’s kitschy representations of Mexican culture reflect North American Mormon imaginaries. While the movie deals heavily with notions of religion and faith in Mexico, any references to Mormonism remain hidden in the negative space. Nacho is a devout Catho- lic, yet he must repress his dreams because of religious inhibitions that would not exist were he Mormon (or Protestant). The film never comes across as an- ti-religious even as it criticizes certain aspects of Catholicism.54 Indeed, Nacho’s spiritual struggles come from two principal sources that would be nonissues were he LDS. First, he wishes to pursue a romantic relationship with the nun Encarnación, but he cannot because of his (and her) chastity vows. Secondly, he wishes to be a luchador, but Encarnación and other religious leaders claim that the wrestling lifestyle is sinful because it creates false idols who seek only the glory of the world. Given that Hess bases his film loosely on the story of Fray Tormenta [The Storming Friar], a Catholic priest who moonlighted as a masked wrestler for 23 years, the historical veracity of the tension between lucha libre and the Catholic Church in Mexico is certainly suspect.55 Nevertheless, the tension between Na- cho’s love of the sport and his affiliation with a church that views it as immoral sits at the heart of Hess’s story.56 In one iconic scene, Chancho – an overweight orphan who serves as a character foil of sorts for the film’s protagonist – walks in on Nacho while he dresses in his bedroom for an upcoming match. In an at- tempt to cover up his secret life, Nacho says “Chancho, when you are a man, sometimes you wear stretchy pants in your room. It’s for fun.” Donald Moss interprets Nacho’s use of stretchy pants as a “flirt[ation] with the marker of a once-repudiated femininity”.57 The critic correctly notes that the less-than-ath- 52 Levi 2008, 222. 53 Stavans 2013, 111–112. 54 The US Conference of Catholic Bishops came out strongly against the film owing to its blasphemous and supposedly anti-clerical nature. See McDannell 2008, 29. 55 Interestingly, Fray Tormenta was forced into early retirement after his true identity became known. This was not because the Church opposed his wrestling, but because other wrestlers did not want to hurt their own popularity by fighting a priest. See Barberena 2009, 159. 56 It is possible that Hess conflated statist postures with those of the Church in making this film. Unlike the Church, which took a generally laissez-faire approach to lucha libre, state officials labeled it as immoral and even took the extraordinary step of banning it from television because they feared that it would contaminate the masses. See Levi 2008, 181; Dalton 2018, 147–149. 57 Moss 2012, 2. On (Dang) Quesadillas and Nachos | 155www.jrfm.eu 2019, 5/2, 141–165