The lyrics of Celia Cruz’s “Yo viviré” rhythmically play out above a brightly lit luchador ring in Ciudad Juárez, Mexico in the beginning scenes of Roger Ross William’s 2023 film, Cassandro: “Mi voz puede volar, puede atravesar cualquier herida, cualquier tiempo, cualquier soledad... Yo viviré, yo viviré.”
A crowd gathers around the ring to watch lucha libre, a professional wrestling style in Mexico characterized by hypermasculine men traditionally fighting in colorful masks and spandex suits. The crowd of wrestling devotees chant, whistle, and stomp for the fight to commence as the lights die out and the music fades. Soon, the whistles turn to jeers as a man climbs into the ring, dressed in a pink leopard leotard and tiny cut-off denim shorts. His green and gold eyeshadow glitters, and his brightly painted lips reveal his unmasked face, defying the signature trademark of los luchadores. The man is Cassandro el exótico, a gay luchador fighter dressed in total drag, resisting and redefining the perceptions and conceptualizations of masculinity and homosexuality in lucha libre.
Soon, the whistles turn to jeers as a man climbs into the ring, dressed in a pink leopard leotard and tiny cut-off denim shorts. His green and gold eyeshadow glitters, and his brightly painted lips reveal his unmasked face, defying the signature trademark of los luchadores.
In the scene above, viewers meet Cassandro for the first time; however, at the film’s start, we know him by another name, Saúl Armendáriz, the real-life luchador interpreted for the screen by Mexican actor Gael García Bernal. Bernal’s portrayal of Saúl is funny and heartbreaking while speaking sincerely about Saúl’s empowering figure. Set in El Paso, Texas, and Juárez, Mexico, Cassandro depicts Saúl’s transformational journey from a “regular” luchador to an exótico while exploring his relationship with his mother, estranged father, lovers, and his journey toward self-acceptance. However, throughout it all, Saúl’s passion for lucha libre remains at the heart of the film.
Lucha libre rose to fame in Mexico in the early 1930s and remains an inextricable part of its history that combines sport, theater, and ritual, creating diverse social and cultural meanings. Though Cassandro focuses primarily on sport and Saúl’s sexuality and personal life, his essential role as an exótico holds power when we think about the extreme masculine nature of lucha libre.
During a lucha libre match, wrestlers attempt to dominate each other through humiliation and aggressive fighting moves until one is ultimately overpowered and pinned to the ground until the referee declares the winner. Along with the humiliation, the wrestlers sometimes compete in matches where the loser removes their mask. The mask itself embodies power, honor, and authority. By losing the mask, the luchador loses a piece of himself that he cannot get back—the crowds sneer and heckle, and the losers leave the ring shamed and disgraced.
Nevertheless, a crucial attribute of exóticos like Saúl is their signature choice to enter maskless into the fighting ring. Traditionally, exóticos perform caricatures of gay men, highlighting femininity and flamboyance to entertain the audience through their often-derogatory portrayals. Moreover, exóticos never win. But in the case of Cassandro, he is an openly gay man and a professional wrestler, not simply a joke to fuel the fervor of the wrestling crowds, but intent on winning. Bernal’s embodiment of Cassandro depicts Saúl’s journey of being the first exótico wrestler to win matches. By entering the ring without a mask, Cassandro subverts the social expectations that ask him to hide his sexuality. He performs femininity while simultaneously engaging in the masculinity and violence of lucha libre.
Cassandro sends a powerful message to the world that is a testament to the fact that exótico wrestlers are worth more than the crowd’s ridicule. It also shows how performance can manipulate social perceptions of masculinity. Saúl, through Bernal’s portrayal, blurs the lines between the macho archetype and the stereotypical presumption that gayness corresponds with weakness and challenges a binary perception of gender.
Bernal’s embodiment of Cassandro depicts Saúl’s journey of being the first exótico wrestler to win matches. By entering the ring without a mask, Cassandro subverts the social expectations that ask him to hide his sexuality.
Not only does Cassandro speak to the subversion of gender and masculinity, but it also broadens visibility and advocacy for the LGBTQ+ community. Because lucha libre operates from a highly public platform, with live matches streaming on television and other media outlets, exóticos like Saúl achieve recognition from a widespread viewership. In the film, Saúl creates Cassandro to find himself and express his authentic identity. His visibility and successful career broadcast a message that tells the audience that embracing your true self is a valid act, disregarding society’s expectations and perceptions. Because Cassandro shows Saúl’s refusal to hide behind a physical and metaphorical mask, he both entertains and educates, diversifying the culture of lucha libre.
His visibility and successful career broadcast a message that tells the audience that embracing your true self is a valid act, disregarding society’s expectations and perceptions.
Indeed, in the penultimate scenes of Cassandro, Saúl fights legendary luchador El Hijo del Santo in Mexico City. The crowd, who previously insult and verbally abuse Cassandro, ultimately cheer and root for him. Though Cassandro loses the fight, he rises triumphantly and smiles on the shoulders of El Hijo del Santo as viewers chant his name. Cassandro and Saúl emerge as one as Saúl witnesses the love and acceptance reverberating from the crowd.
Cassandro addresses the problematic and damaging perceptions and stereotypes that haunt exóticos in lucha libre and the broader intolerance toward nonheteronormative individuals in Mexico, the United States, and globally. Though Cassandro centers on Mexico and the wider Latinx community, the film speaks largely to popular culture and media representations and its unique ability to provide autonomy and representation for marginalized communities. The film, combined with the real-life existence of Saúl Armendáriz, urges us to ask questions surrounding belonging: Whose lives, experiences, and histories do we deem worthy enough for representation? Likewise, how do these representations ignite conversation and actual societal change regarding identity and inclusivity?
The film, combined with the real-life existence of Saúl Armendáriz, urges us to ask questions surrounding belonging.
We can find one answer to the questions from Saúl himself: “Cassandro is an open book among those who hide behind a mask because they fear what others might say...this is Cassandro, the Liberace of lucha libre” (2017). Saúl points us to the fact that his journey is not just a personal one but a serious shift toward a more extensive defense of inclusivity. His representation in Cassandro speaks to those of us who live our lives behind the mask that society thrusts onto us. However, Cassandro also asks us to throw down our masks, put on our brightest eyeshadow, and step into the ring and fight.
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