Secuestro Express - Jonathan Jakubowicz interview

Secuestro Express director Jonathan Jakubowicz talks about the personal experience that inspired the film, as well as the impact it has had on both a country in turmoil and himself as a person and filmmaker…

Q. I hear that Secuestro Express was born out of personal experience. Can you tell us a bit about that?
Jonathan Jakubowicz: Partially, yes. It was based on different experiences. One is mine but I spoke to many kidnap victims and kidnappers and created the script from real life tales that I gathered. My kidnapping was very much less violent and traumatic than the one portrayed in the movie. But I did have a gun to my head for 45 minutes and they left us in the middle of the highway at midnight in our underwear and socks. So it was definitely traumatic but not as bad as in the movie.

Q. Can you tell us a little bit about the reality of life in Caracas?
Jonathan Jakubowicz: The reality is that a lot of my friends have been kidnapped and even if they haven’t, they’ve been victims of a crime in one way or another. In many ways, the reason I decided to do this film is because this has become a normal thing and we have to stop it from being normal. We have to speak out and do something about it – and that’s what we’re trying to do with the film, create awareness. I think, in many ways, that’s why the film became so successful in Venezuela because people from both sides identify with it. And that happens rarely.

Q. It’s the highest-grossing film in Venezeula, isn’t it? It has surpassed the likes of Titanic and The Passion of the Christ?
Jonathan Jakubowicz: Yeah, ever. It’s pretty crazy. A lot of people went to see it from the ghettos that have never been to a movie theatre. They would go and knock on the door of my actors and ask them: “How do you go to a movie theatre?” It was in many ways because the pirates decided not to sell the DVDs on the black market because they supported the message within the movie. That forced people to go to the theatre because they usually get their pirate DVDs from the ghetto and watch it that way. If they wanted to see Secuestro, they were told to go and watch it. So that’s how it became this cultural phenomenon that everyone identified with. I just feel blessed that we were actually able to get the message across and communicate with both sides.

Q. And that in turn helped it to get the international distribution because this is the first film from Venezuela to have achieved that…
Jonathan Jakubowicz: It’s very hard to understand and process all this success. I just take it as flattering that what we’re saying is important and the world wants to hear. We are in a very special moment for humanity and we have to deal with the issues that are affecting humanity. As a filmmaker you have such a massive audience and you need to own the responsibility of addressing it because it’s part of the responsibility of having the privilege to reach them. I just tried my best to speak out for the people who don’t usually speak out in my culture. The fact that the entire world got my message is just very exciting and very flattering. I feel blessed.

Q. How old were you when you were kidnapped?
Jonathan Jakubowicz: I was 22. Now I’m 28, so that was six years ago.

Q. How soon did you realise you wanted to make a film about it?
Jonathan Jakubowicz: It was much later. When I was kidnapped, the reaction was actually anger. You just want revenge. But it was only when I left the country and started to see how society works in Europe and the United States that I started to see what was different in Venezuela and what can cause these kinds of things to happen. I realised that the reason is very simple and there was no way you could possibly go on with a society in which 80% of the people live in poverty and 20% live in extreme wealth. We needed to do something about that and the only way to communicate to the entire society that we have to do something about it is to say things in a truthful way. Even though it might hurt, we have to deal with this. There’s simply no going back. If we continue with the level of violence that we’ve had in the past three decades, where are we going to stop? Where are we going to be in three decades?

We had 14,000 deaths last year in Venezuela from street crime. Those are numbers from a war, yet we don’t have a war. We have street crime, we have disparity, we have misery, we have corruption in the police but there’s a limit to how much we can accept that. So let’s really be honest and deal with the fact that this is affecting each and every one of us because nobody is living under human conditions any more. It doesn’t matter how rich you are – if you have to live with three bodyguards, electric fences and drive a bulletproof car, you’re not living under human conditions. That’s the message – that we need to do something; each and every one of us has to devote themselves in full to do something about this because we cannot continue going this way.

Q. Now that the awareness has been raised – both nationally and internationally – is there any evidence of something being done?
Jonathan Jakubowicz: It has created a huge level of awareness. But it’s been tricky because the government is so much against this film and really doesn’t want the message to get across because they benefit from class hatred. So it’s tricky and it’s hard but we’re still pushing and the film’s message is still there. It’s now out on DVD and we have created events that mix both sides because we believe that the beginning of the process is communication between both sides. Sometimes we throw concerts or parties and make it in a neutral space so that we can invite people from all sides of society. There’s a process we’re trying to create of loosening the class hatred because that’s the beginning. It’s a very complicated problem but communication has to be the start.

Q. Given the controversy that Secuestro Express has caused in Venezuela, are you still based in Caracas?
Jonathan Jakubowicz: I come and go between Caracas and Los Angeles. I’m currently adapting a Robert Ludlum book for Universal – The Sigma Protocol.

Q. So you’ve arrived in Hollywood as a result of Secuestro?
Jonathan Jakubowicz: [Laughs] Yeah, I guess so. It’s a very interesting thing. It’s a different world – a big project, big budget, a lot of producers, everybody has an opinion. But at the same time it’s also a movie that’s very close to my heart because it has a message of awareness and the more I can keep something close to my heart, the less it matters how big or how small it is. It’s going to be my first big international production and hopefully it’s going to keep up with the big success and critical acclaim that Secuestro has given me. Hopefully it won’t be one of those movies where people say: “Oh, he was soo good when he was an indie filmmaker! What did he do?”

I think Secuestro has been such a crazy success. Not many films in history have accomplished for their own societies what Secuestro did in Venezuela and that’s a big responsibility but success enough for me to be happy for a while even if I fuck it up from now on!

Q. Your directorial style, particularly on Secuestro, has drawn comparisons to City of God, while you are being compared favourably to the likes of Fernando Mereilles and Quentin Tarantino. How do you feel about that?
Jonathan Jakubowicz: It’s flattering. They’re not comparing me to anyone I don’t admire. They’re comparing me to the best people out there. There was one guy who said: “I think you kidnapped the techniques of the best directors of the world and copied them.” I was like, “cool”! I did and I’m not ever going to give them back. The more techniques they come up with, the more I’m going to kidnap them. That’s what film language is – once it’s out there, it’s out there for everyone to use. You’ve got to come up with new ones yourself too but I think you should embrace what the good directors are doing. So all of those comparisons are flattering and never offensive.

Q. Which directors do inspire you?
Jonathan Jakubowicz: The early films of Oliver Stone, Tarantino, Danny Boyle, Peter Greenaway, Robert Rodriguez…

Q. He’s a friend, isn’t he – Robert Rodriguez. Has he given you any advice?
Jonathan Jakubowicz: Yeah. He actually gave me the advice you’d least expect from him when he saw the first cut of Secuestro Express. He said the movie is too fast [laughs]. This is a guy who’s made some of the fastest movies ever seen. When I asked what he meant, he replied that people wouldn’t be able to handle it. I had to slow it down, use a wider shot so that there’s more information for the eye to see. Keep it there and nobody gets bored. It’s one of the best pieces of advice I have ever received. We did slow it down a little bit – it’s still a really fast movie – but now it’s enjoyable and it might not have been then.

Q. How difficult was it to maintain the balance between tension, violence and not over-stepping boundaries in terms of being too extreme or voyeuristic?
Jonathan Jakubowicz: I wanted to convey that feeling that I got when I was kidnapped. You perceive the reality as part of fragmented images combining in your brain to give you an idea of who you are with, or where you are. That’s what I tried to do. A lot of people have said that when they watched the movie it made them feel as though they were kidnapped. That’s because they are. They’re watching it through the eyes of a person who has been there and remembers how you perceive it. That’s one of the biggest accomplishments with the film – you really don’t know what to expect at any time.

Q. Mia Maestro is brilliant as one of the kidnap victims? Yet she’s one of only two professional actors you used. How did you get her?
Jonathan Jakubowicz: She was having dinner with my producer in LA and he got drunk and started talking about this small movie she was going to make in Venezuela. Mia then said she would like to read the script, so we gave it to her and she loved it. She freaked out and said it was incredible and wanted to be a part of it. She is, of course, Argentine and they have a very different accent from Venezuelans. So it was a process to get her to speak like a Venezuelan but she nailed it 100%. Actually, most Venezuelans wouldn’t buy that she’s Argentine.

Q. How tough was it for her, being the only female on the set as well as being surrounded by unprofessional actors?
Jonathan Jakubowicz: She was going through real emotions when we shot it. She would have nightmares and call me at 4am crying, saying: “These people really hate me, they’re not acting.” It was a really harsh environment for her – 14 hours a day being kidnapped. We were in dangerous streets, everybody was tense both inside and outside of the set. When you watch the movie, you’re seeing real emotions and that, I think, is one of the biggest rewards the audience gets. They’re not just watching a great performance but real human beings have real emotions. That’s something you rarely find on film.

Q. You mentioned the dangerous locations – how difficult was it to keep everyone safe?
Jonathan Jakubowicz: It’s not easy. Sometimes, we had a bigger security crew than the production crew. That usually comprised gang members, police and private security. But what was more important was getting the people in the neighbourhoods to understand what we were doing and to share the message. Once you had the people around you with you, nothing was really dangerous. They believe in what you’re doing and they protect you.

Q. Were you ever approached by anyone saying that you shoudln’t be filming it?
Jonathan Jakubowicz: Yeah, there was one time that my security team came and said: “You realise, this is probably the most dangerous street in Caracas. It’s a street that has a lot of hostels. All the people that live here don’t want to have an address because the cops are looking for them.”

I thought, well, if the security team – which is made out of mostly gang members – said for the first time “we’re scared”, then let’s get out of there. But they said: “Never. We’re here. We’ll get done whatever we have to do and then we’ll leave. But we cannot leave right now because if they see us running away, that’s when they’ll attack.”

That’s what we did and we actually ended up staying there until after the sunset, when it went dark. It became a love-fest. People are not evil – they’re resentful many times, but not evil when you look them in the eyes and tell them you understand and want to explain some of the things that they want to say. We got everything done without a single accident. It was almost a miracle.

Q. How are you perceived whenever you go back to Caracas?
Jonathan Jakubowicz: I’m a hero for some, a traitor to others. The government hates me and wants to put me in jail or whatever. But for the people that matter, I’m someone who has said some stuff that everybody wanted to say. For the young filmmakers, I’m a person who has opened many doors for them. And that’s just very positive. The fact that the government is against me is a part of the consequence of the fact that we communicated with everybody. But I think if any government is happy with any of the films I’m going to make, then that’s the day I worry. I think you should talk about the problems of the minorities. And so if they want to hate me, they should hate me.

Q. So will you always seek to make hard-hitting films that tackle relevant social issues?
Jonathan Jakubowicz: As much as possible, yes. I think if you can inspire people to make a difference, you should. I think those movies are just more exciting. Making a film takes so long that I don’t know if I could ever invest that much time into something that doesn’t feel important to me. You’ve got to do something you’re passionate about – not some big thing just because it’s big. Those are the projects I feel attracted to and hope to be working on.