The actor Eugenio Derbez does not stop chaining projects between his native Mexico and the United States. At 62 years old, the protagonist and creator of the successful television series La familia P. Luche and performer of the Oscar-winning CODA, is living a great moment and is especially proud of his recent work under Christopher Zalla in Radical, winner of the award for the best Ibero-American film at the last Malaga Festival. In this story based on real events he plays Sergio Juárez, a sixth grade teacher who in 2011 tried a different method to awaken the curiosity and potential of his students at the José Urbina school in Matamoros, a city surrounded by violence and corruption. and school dropout.
I had previously worked with Christopher Zalla on Our Father (Sangre de mi sangre). How did you get this proposal?
Well, it was me and my partner who looked for the story. When I moved to Los Angeles in 2014 I started looking for stories. I wanted to change the narrative of how Latinos are seen in Hollywood because they always called me for roles as a drug dealer, gang member, and robber. And I wondered why they don't consider Latinos to be a teacher, an astronaut or an engineer? Looking for inspiring stories, we contacted Joshua Davis, the journalist who wrote the original article in Wired magazine, where he named Paloma Noyola in 2012 as the next Steve Jobs. And we decided to tell this true and unique story that I believe made people worldwide see that children can be taught to think instead of memorizing and repeating texts.
And the architect is a teacher named Sergio Juárez, who was determined to educate his students in a different way in an environment as difficult as the one in Matamoros...
The beautiful thing about this story is that in a place like Matamoros, one of the most dangerous in the world, where there is too much violence and children live surrounded by deprivation, seeing how a teacher from his trench with the simple desire to change the world, Realizing that the children were absolutely unmotivated and that the school had even come out as one of the worst nationwide, he decides to do something. He confessed to me that he didn't know if he was doing something right or something wrong. But it was more his need to change his environment and motivate the children, who went to school out of inertia and most of them quit halfway through the year. Thanks to this method, the children changed and the following year the classroom was one of the first nationwide. It's a nice story.
The key to his teaching lies in learning from his own mistakes. Have you also learned a lot from yours?
Completely. We are always afraid of making mistakes, of making ourselves ridiculous. That's why Sergio Juárez starts class by saying to forget about grades, about passing the year. 'I want you to be wrong, but ask me what you want to learn,' he tells them. And this is how this method begins, motivating children and making them lose their fear of making mistakes.
How did you prepare for the role? Was she in permanent contact with Sergio?
We were in contact with him from day one and he was the one who told us all the stories that appear in the film. The script is based on those stories. He was in the filming of the film and is supervised by both Sergio and Paloma, which gives us great pleasure because we wanted to tell an absolutely real and true story, not romanticize it as happens with other films.
Did they film in the same José Urbina school?
We couldn't film there because it was too dangerous. We wanted to film in Matamoros but it was impossible. We had to make a replica of the school and Matamoros in another part of Mexico. But it is nailed to the original.
In the film, both Sergio and the school director fondly remember the names of some teachers who marked them for the better. Do you also remember anyone who supported you?
Note that no. I had a teacher that I liked very much and I consider that he helped me a lot in my career. But, the other way around. In fact there is a phrase in the movie that I say to Nico, who is clowning. 'I'll give you a tip. Never change'. It is a phrase that I asked Christopher to say because I would have liked him to have motivated me to continue with my career as a comedian. But at school they always made me feel like being funny was bad. That he would never amount to anything if he told jokes and acted like a clown. And it was exactly the other way around. Today I still meet with former primary and secondary school students and they tell me that those who got better grades may not have achieved their dreams and that I, who was one of the stupidest, have come far. That is a bit of a reflection of what life is. Those who memorize will not always go further. Children must be taught to think, not to memorize. That is Sergio's premise.
We need more teachers like him!
Absolutely. That is why I am very happy that this film is seen in more and more countries because it is a true story of a teacher who found this method that works because it makes children think, not repeat a text like parakeets. And that helps you more in life than learning facts.
What have you learned from Sergio after playing him?
For me, meeting him and talking to him has been a gift of life. Few people have the vocation that he has. I remember asking him what he was doing and he told me that he was still in the same place, teaching sixth grade students in Matamoros. I asked him why and he answered that when the magazine came out in 2012 with the results he had achieved with this method, many schools approached him to offer him a better salary and better conditions in a safer place. But he did not want to move from Matamoros because he felt it would be betraying the children. 'This is where they need me,' he told me. And today it is still there.
This teacher is a hero...
Note that I said it as a joke at first but I am very serious now and I believe that Radical is the first Mexican film with a flesh and blood superhero who really manages to change the world.
It is very sad to see how many of your students want to learn but find it difficult to continue with their studies because they carry adult responsibilities. Paloma with her sick father or Lupe who must take care of her little brothers...
Sergio told us that it was very sad to see how children could not go to class, even if they had the talent and ability, and many times they cannot fulfill their dreams because they are not allowed. From home they are limited, as in the case of Paloma, when her father asks the teacher 'why does he make my daughter believe that she can go far?' 'Leave her alone.' And it is very sad that parents think that way or give them responsibilities that do not correspond to them so that they do not go to school. They restrict their dreams. The reality is very sad.
What was your relationship with the child actors like? They are impressive
They had zero experience because the director didn't want child actors who were flawed or trained. Those who appear in the film had never acted. Christopher wanted a lot of naturalness and it was good for the film, but also a very big challenge on the set because they were children who were not used to connecting with a feeling as soon as they said action.
His Sergio is a very different teacher from the disciplined one he embodied in CODA
Yes, CODA is fictional and we decided to make it very extroverted. He was a failed rock singer who finally arrives in the United States and abandons his career. And in Radical he is the other way around. Sergio is very introverted in real life but he told me that when he was in front of the students he became another person.
The film has had great success in Mexico and the United States. Has it surprised you?
Completely. Because the way the world is after the pandemic, neither the cinemas nor the box office are the same. However, Radical became the most watched film since the pandemic to this day in all of Mexico. In fact, it is the most successful drama in the entire history of Mexican cinema and that makes me very happy.
