Calles Limpias
| Calles Limpias | |
|---|---|
 Theatrical release poster | |
| Directed by | Carlos López Yagüe |
| Produced by | Carlos López Yagüe |
| Written by | José Mejía Fuentes |
| Screenplay by | Damián Guerrero Castañeda |
| Story by | José Mejía Fuentes José Herrador Jiménez Martín Yagüe Dolores |
| Starring | Damián López Curbelo Che Holguín Razo Práxedes Cánovas Azcárraga |
| Music by | Mario Vilanova Velázquez |
| Cinematography | Hernán Parejas Elizalde |
Production company | |
| Distributed by | Univisión, Webplay |
Release date | 15 October 1997 |
Running time | 153 minutes |
| Country | See release |
| Language | See release |
| Budget | 184 million colóns |
| Box office | 1.528 billion colóns |
Calles Limpias (translated as Clean Streets) is a 1997 action movie directed by Carlos López Yagüe. The film stars Damián López Curbelo as a normal street cleaner who turns to a life of vigilante justice. As a former soldier in the Creeperian Army who had his wife killed by Mara Salvatrucha, he begins a "career" of killing gang members without legal permission. The ensemble cast includes Che Holguín Razo, Práxedes Cánovas Azcárraga, Francisco Silvela Silva, Diego Gutiérrez Salinas, Gustavo López Vides, José Villacrés Águila, and Xavier Funes Tafalla.
Calles Limpias premiered in Creeperopolis on 15 October 1997, symbolically the day that the Mara War started and the birthday of Federico Mejía Yanes, the person López Curbelo's character is based off on. The film had a budget of 184 million Creeperian colóns, the equivalent of 23 million Quebecshirite credits, and it grossed 1.528 billion colóns, or 191 million credits. The film was praised for its direction, themes, actions, musical score, and visual effects. The film was nominated for ten Creeperopolis Film Awards and won six (Best Film, Best Director, Best Actor, Best Writing, Best Score, and Best Song).
Contents
Plot
Verón Reyes Ñero was recently just honorably discharged from the Creeperian Army in 1997 after serving his four-year conscription as a soldier for the 15th Creeperian Army. He served in the Castillianan Insurgency against the Militarist Front for National Liberation. After returning home in a poor district of southern Salvador, he was hired as a street cleaner to clear the streets of trash and other litter. He married his girlfriend from secondary school, María Aguinaldo Tasis, three months after returning home. A week after the wedding, Aguinaldo Tasis was killed by rouge bullets fired by members of Mara Salvatrucha, Creeperopolis' largest and most notorious gang, during a shootout with a rival gang, Los'Muchachos. Reyes Ñero blamed the death of his wife on Enrique Codalles Rouco, the local kingpin of Mara Salvatrucha in Salvador. Armed with only a machete, Reyes Ñero killed a member of Mara Salvatrucha in his home and stole his Figueroa-52 to use for future killings. Over the next few weeks, he met and became friends with José Barrios Manzanedo, a fellow former soldier of the 15th Army who worked as a plumber. He also lost a daughter to Mara Salvatrucha in 1995 and wanted revenge as he knew exactly who killed her.
First, they ambushed two members of Mara Salvatrucha at night to get Barrios Manzanedo a weapon. They stole a Figueroa-24 from one of the bodies and a Figueroa-3 from the other. They committed a second killing the following night, stealing another Figueroa-3 in the process. By now, both Mara Salvatrucha leadership and the Creeperian Imperial Police noticed several killings of members of Mara Salvatrucha and suspected a vigilante killer was on the loose. Jorge Alcocer Fonseca, the police chief of Salvador, ordered information that could lead to the arrest of the vigilante, and Codalles Rouco placed a bounty on the head of the vigilante. On the night the two planned to kill Isidoro Sotelo Ureña, the man who killed Barrios Manzanedo's daughter, the two were stopped by police men who noticed they were carrying weapons. Suspecting they were gang members, the police officers went to detain the men, but both fired at the officers and burned the car, effectively ruining the assassination attempt. Alcocer Fonseca ordered the death of the vigilantes for the death of the two officers and composite sketches were made of both Reyes Ñero and Barrios Manzanedo. Fearing death, the two fled to Puerto Francisco and attempted to blend in with the minority Creeperian population. After a few months passed, the two returned to Salvador and carried out the assassination of Alcocer Fonseca. After returning to Puerto Francisco, Reyes Ñero told Barrios Manzanedo that he wanted to kill Codalles Rouco, the man at the top of Mara Salvatrucha in Salvador.
After Alcocer Fonseca was killed, Samuel Palau Gaos was hired as a bounty hunter by Mara Salvatrucha. He was given rough details of Alcocer Fonseca's killer and he suspected he was hiding in Puerto Francisco. He arrived at the home of someone who matched the killer's description and killed everyone in the household, but none of them were Reyes Ñero. Reyes Ñero was informed of the killing and knew that he had a limited amount of time to get the assassination done before he himself was assassinated. He received a massive advantage when Santino Alarcón Sánchez, a police investigator for the Creeperian Imperial Police working to get Codalles Rouco arrested, gives the information he has to Reyes Ñero to help him in his plot after meeting in a Pollo Campestre.
On 16 January 1999, Reyes Ñero, Barrios Manzanedo, and Armando Carballal Miralles, an Atlántidan from Puerto Francisco who joined their plot to kill Codalles Rouco, stole a pickup truck and drove off to intercept a vehicle that was carrying Codalles Rouco. They were armed with Reyes Ñero's Figueroa-52, Barrios Manzanedo's Figueroa-24, and Carballal Miralles' Figueroa-81. The opened fire on Codalles Rouco's black tinted Azavedo Carga van and a high speed chase began. The police were notified and joined in the pursuit. The pickup truck and van exchanged fire, and the police officers fired upon both vehicles. During the chase, the vehicles drove into Puerto Francisco, causing chaos to the usually calm part of Creeperopolis. The 3rd Creeperian Army, garrisoned in the area, mobilized some of its units to intercept the chase. During the chase and fire fight, Reyes Ñero fired the killing shot on Codalles Rouco, but Barrios Manzanedo was also killed during the fight by military forces.
The military forced the van to surrender and all Mara Salvatrucha members in the vehicle who survived the arrested. Carballal Miralles, the driver of the pickup truck, drove the vehicle into the Bay of Salvador, and both he and Reyes Ñero swam to shore and evaded capture. Reyes Ñero mourned the death of Barrios Manzanedo, but he knew he had to escape or else he would be eventually captured by the police or killed by Mara Salvatrucha. Carballal Miralles told Reyes Ñero that they could escape to Atlántida and seek refuge with the Atlántidan Defense Militia, with which his brother had ties to. Two weeks after the chase and fire fight, they managed to arrange a car ride to La'Libertad, and from there, they arranged a boat trip from La'Libertad to Atlántida, where the two hid in exile in the company of the Atlántidan Defense Militia.
Cast
- Damián López Curbelo as Verón Reyes Ñero, a former Creeperian Army soldier who now works as a street cleaner. He turned to a life of vigilante justice by killing Mara Salvatrucha gang members in revenge for the death of his wife. López Curbelo was the first actor cast for the role.
- Che Holguín Razo as José Barrios Manzanedo, a former Creeperian Army soldier who now works as a plumber. He joined Reyes Ñero in his vigilante mission due to a similar motive.
- Práxedes Cánovas Azcárraga as Enrique Codalles Rouco, a local Mara Salvatrucha kingpin in Salvador who Reyes Ñero blamed for the death of his wife and sought the death of.
- Francisco Silvela Silva as Jorge Alcocer Fonseca, the police chief of Salvador.
- Diego Gutiérrez Salinas as Isidoro Sotelo Ureña, a member of Mara Salvatrucha who killed Barrios Manzanedo's daughter in 1995.
- Luana Guillén Dávalos as María Aguinaldo Tasis de Reyes, Reyes Ñero's wife who was killed by members of Mara Salvatrucha.
- Rigoberto Manzanedo Pardo as Sebastian Arrabal Piñón, a Creeperian resident of Puerto Francisco who agrees to shelter Reyes Ñero and Barrios Manzanedo.
- Cristóbal Rasgado Venegas as Samuel Palau Gaos, a Mara Salvatrucha bounty hunter searching for Reyes Ñero.
- Jorge Berganza Mariano as Santino Alarcón Sánchez, a police investigator who has intel on Codalles Rouco and secretly gives the information to Reyes Ñero.
- Gonzalo Dávalos Nores as Armando Carballal Miralles, an Atlántidan from Puerto Francisco who joins Reyes Ñero and Barrios Manzanedo.
Production
Development
The premise of Calles Limpias is based off of the actions of Federico Mejía Yanes, popularly known as Evelio Mejía or The Tyrant of Tuxtla Martínez, who established the Mejía Legion death squad and killed hundreds of members of Mara Salvatrucha from 1979 until his death in a car chase and shootout in 1983.
Carlos López Yagüe, José Mejía Fuentes, José Herrador Jiménez, and Martín Yagüe Dolores drafted the story of the movie in 1992 and sent it to the Ministry of Internal Affairs for approval, which it was in mid-1992. Production of the film began in 1993. The movie was initially supposed to be located in Tuxtla Martínez, Zapatista, where Mejía Yanes' death squad operated, but when Damián López Curbelo officially joined the cast as Reyes Ñero, he suggested changing the location to Salvador as it would be too similar to the real events if it was in Tuxtla Martínez. The producers and writers agreed and the location was moved to Salvador, but in the process, the plan to have the shootout occur in Panachor had to be changed to Puerto Francisco which caused legal issues as the city had a special status within Creeperopolis. Until the producers could get approval to film in Puerto Francisco, the film was put on hold. The Ministry of Internal Affairs approved filming in Puerto Francisco and production resumed in late-1993.
Locations and sets
Several locations across Salvador were used during the filming of the movie. During the filming of night scenes, actual military units were deployed to prevent any members of Mara Salvatrucha attacking the production team. No engagements occurred during filming, but two members of Mara Salvatrucha were arrested during the scene where two police officers were killed as they walked to close to the set.
Cinematography
During filming, modern cameras were used for the proper parts of the film while older low resolution cameras were used for specific scenes, such as during the wedding for Reyes Ñero's recording and the shootout for the officer's cameras as a sort of first person perspective for the viewer.
Visual effects
Effects for explosions, gun fire, and blood had to be used for filming.
Music
Several original music tracks were created by Mario Vilanova Velázquez for the film, one of which, La'Fiesta, won Best Song at the Creeperopolis Film Awards.
- Tema Principal – 2:43
- La'Fiesta – 3:44
- Gloria – 2:22
- Codalles Rouco – 3:10
- La'Preparación – 4:01
- Yas Tiempo – 1:49
- La'Lucha Final – 5:29
- Fin – 1:30
Themes
The film deals with heavy war themes, especially vigilante justice which was and still is a problem in Creeperopolis, with several vigilante death squads still operating in the country.
Release
Calles Limpias first premiered in Creeperopolis, the location where the movie was filmed, in 1997. It also released in El Salvador, Eminople, Gagium, Greater Sacramento, Quebecshire, the San Carlos Islands and the State of the Church in 1997. It subsequently released in Salisford in 1998, Paleocacher and Xusma in 2000, Arcadia in 2003, Lyoa in 2005, and Karimun in 2010. It released in Reia and Willdavie in 2020 as a result of its release on Webplay.
The film is available in the following languages: Arabic, Atlántidan, Bahasa Karimun, Castillianan, Creeperian, Cantuath, Jackian, Quebecshirite, and Salisfordian.
Marketing
The film had a budget of 184 million Creeperian colóns, the equivalent of 23 million Quebecshirite credits. Marketing cost around 8,000,000 colóns (1,000,000 credits). The most iconic part of the marketing was the logo, which featured blood on the lower half of the title Calles Limpias and had both the "m" and "s" in "limpias" completely filled in red, alluding the Mara Salvatrucha's acronym, MS.
Home media
Calles Limpias was released on DVD in 1999. It was later rereleased multiple times on DVD in 2007, 2011, 2017, and 2021, each in anticipation of a new installation in the Calles Limpias series.
Reception
Box office
Calles Limpias was released in 1997. It grossed 1.528 billion colóns, or 191 million credits. It was the highest grossing Creeperian movie of 1997, out earning Hombres en Casa by 264 million colóns (33 million credits).
Critical response
| Organization | Result |
|---|---|
| Películas Creeperiano | 94% |
Accolades
| Organization | Category | Nominee(s) | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| Almasrahistama | Best Foreign Film (Sur) | Calles Limpias | Won |
| Creeperopolis Film Awards | Best Film | Calles Limpias | Won |
| Best Director | Carlos López Yagüe | Won | |
| Best Actor | Damián López Curbelo | Won | |
| Best Actress | Luana Guillén Dávalos | Nominated | |
| Best Supporting Actor | Che Holguín Razo | Nominated | |
| Best Screenplay | Damián Guerrero Castañeda | Nominated | |
| Best Writing | José Mejía Fuentes | Won | |
| Best Cinematography | Hernán Parejas Elizalde | Nominated | |
| Best Score | Mario Vilanova Velázquez | Won | |
| Best Song | La'Fiesta | Won | |
| Gaceta Creeperiano | Common Creeperian of the Year (1997) | Damián López Curbelo | Won |
| Salvador Most Influential | Person of 1997 | Damián López Curbelo | Won |
In popular culture
Calles Limpias is considered by many to be one of the greatest movies ever produced in Creeperopolis. The phrase "Limiar las'Calles" ("Clean the Streets") has been come to known colloquially as "kill members of Mara Salvatrucha." Calles Limpias is said to have "solidified" López Curbelo as Creeperopolis' best and most popular actor. The film spawned a series spanning five movies released from 1997 to 2021.
