Intercultural Barriers in Machete

by Neal Trout

Machete is the latest offering by writer / director Robert Rodriguez and his Austin, Texas based Troublemaker studios. Drawing from the highly charged current events surrounding immigration reform and border security, Rodriguez penned this grindhouse film centered on the title character, Machete, a Mexican Federale, who is double crossed in his home country, and, after his family is killed, ends up an illegal worker in the United States. Flash forward to present day, where Machete is hired by a mysterious business man to assassinate a crooked, anti-immigrant senator, John McLaughlin, played by Academy Award winner Robert De Niro. During the assignation attempt Machete ends up being framed, the whole thing setup as a publicity stunt to garner more anti-illegal support. This sets Machete off on a brutal rampage of revenge against his former bosses and their henchmen, including a group of vigilante minutemen, lead by Lt. Stillman, played by Don Johnson. He is helped by Luz, a woman running the Network, an organization that helps smuggle undocumented workers over the border, played by Michelle Rodriguez, and by Sartana, the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent trying to stop the Network, whom Machete shows the error of her ways, played by Jessica Alba. In the end Machete is able to stop the men oppressing his people and get revenge on the drug lord who killed his family. Throughout the film there are a number of characters that encounter intercultural communication barriers. We will briefly examine a few examples of this, exploring exactly what these barriers were, and how the characters could have used different strategies to overcome them.

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