Thoughts on Gloria

I enjoyed watching the Mexican movie Gloria yesterday, about the pop singer Gloria Trevi and her life with her abusive manager, who exploited teen girls and used them like his personal harem of sex slaves. I had heard of Trevi years ago via a book about her (she was a huge pop star in the 90's in Mexico, like Madonna-level famous), and she went to prison for four years as an accomplice to her manager's exploitation of young girls who idolized Trevi.

From the book, I thought Trevi was a deceitful person who enabled her manager's crimes and lured girls in with promises of celebrity and glamour, like being friends with their idol. In the movie, she is portrayed more sympathetically, as a victim of her manager and manipulated by his emotional abuse and mind games as he rotates her around his group of girls. It made more sense why she would defend him, feeling she owed him for her career success and being her first (first love, first lover). I am not sure what exactly to think, but I do think she was a victim of him while also enabling his crimes to please him.

The acting was really good in this. The actress who played Trevi was excellent, bringing out the wild side of Trevi's celebrity persona while also the vulnerability and fear in her private life with her manager and friends. The actor who played the manager was excellent in playing him as an abusive and slimy predator who saw himself as a god amongst these girls. I also felt for the other girls, especially since they looked really young and brought out their immaturity and childishness amidst trying to act sexy and "adult."

I watched a video afterwards of Trevi performing one of her early hits on TV, and the movie was dead-on in capturing her pop star/rock n roll attitude of tearing up the stage, being unpredictable, and full of heart and passion for her music. It was just really cool to watch, and I could see why she thrilled Mexican audiences at that time.