On Labor Day, Sept. 1, the Guild Cinema hosted a screening of Sergio Arau’s 2004 film “A Day Without a Mexican.” The film is shot in a mockumentary style, documenting a time in California where a mysterious fog made all people of Mexican descent suddenly disappear.
The film follows many of the people affected by this, including a farmer missing his workforce and his best friend, the farmer’s racist son who celebrates the disappearance, to his father’s chagrin, a newscaster having a tryst with the charismatic Hispanic weather man and a woman searching for her missing husband and son while dodging questions about why her daughter has not disappeared as well.
The central plot is that of a woman named Lila Rodriguez, a news reporter who seems to be the only Mexican left. All eyes are on her as California realizes she might be their only hope to bring back their loved ones and save their economy.
Keif Henley, owner of the Guild Cinema, told the Daily Lobo that “A Day Without a Mexican” was part of its annual Labor Day comedy double feature.
“We have a tradition of doing Labor Day double features with humor and stuff like that. (This year) it was “Office Space” and “A Day Without a Mexican,”” Henley said. “Somebody had wanted me to play (“A Day Without a Mexican”) like 10 years ago, and I couldn't find it distributed. In 2004, it was topical and relevant telling back then, and unfortunately, it still is now.”
The cinematography of the film has that early 2000s low-budget grain, but what it lacks in clarity it makes up for in creativity. The film’s use of color is particularly striking. When the Mexicans disappear, many of the film’s warm tones go with them, leaving empty gray streets and white men in drab gray suits. It shows not just how much functionality immigrants bring to our communities, but how much warmth and life.
“There seems to be people in powerful positions that are trying to spread a lot of fear and information, regardless of what party’s in the White House. So there's a push, I think, to blame people that barely have any resources to defend themselves. Blame them, but forget about Wall Street executives doing things that create the housing crisis,” Henley said. “It's easier to go after somebody who barely has the resources to defend themselves.”
“A Day Without a Mexican” was made at a turning point in U.S. immigration policy. In 2003, the Department of Homeland Security and Immigration and Customs Enforcement were created. Twenty years later, ICE is on track to deport more than 400,000 people in President Donald Trump’s first year back in office and have deported over 180,000 people in 2025 thus far, according to the New York Times.
“It's just very telling of our times being. Yes, it's satire, it's comedy, it's humor, it's that kind of thing. But of course, it's very telling,” Henley said. “The whole history of comedy speaks of a certain truth. It gets people to laugh. It gets people to think about things.”
Addison Fulton is the culture editor for the Daily Lobo. She can be reached at culture@dailylobo.com or on X @dailylobo
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