| “ | Vargas: I have two news for you Doña Lupe, a good one, and a bad one. The good one is that those who repent their sins will go to Heaven. Doña Lupe: And what's the bad one? Vargas: That you'll have Herod's law. |
„ |
| ~ Juan Vargas before killing Doña Lupe. |
| “ | You're all poor because you want to! | „ |
| ~ Juan Vargas' villainous breakdown. |
Juan Vargas, also known as Master Vargas is the protagonist of the Mexican satiric comedy thriller film Herod's Law/La Ley de Herodes.
The former administrator of a junkyard with a several love for justice and law enforcement, the movie follows Vargas journey into corruption and insanity, becoming in a ruthless tyrant that is capable of everything.
He was played by Damián Alcázar, who also played Lord Sopespian in The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian.
Biography[]
Juan was the clean supervisor of a junkyard in an unknown place in México. He was also an old militant of the real-life Mexican political party PRI (Partido Revolucionario Institucional - Institutional Revolutionary Party), but he was taken away for his incompetence on higher charges. This incompetence was the main reason that he turned in the spot of the Secretary of MODA, Fidel López and his right-hand Ramírez, who entered the party the same time Vargas did. They were looking for a "not-so-smart" guy to be the mayor of the fictional town of San Pedro de los Saguaros, that was left on misery since his last mayor Alfredo Garcia tried to run away with the town's budget. Once he reaches San Pedro, Juan is received by his personal secretary, Carlos Pek, as the new mayor of the town. Upset at being the leader of a miserable village, Vargas is finally decided to turn San Pedro into a modern town and be the greatest mayor they ever had. All seemed to run well, except for one issue: there was no budget
Vargas visits his superior Licentiate López, begging to give him more budget, but as all the money was left for the party thanks to the new state governor's election, López denies him any help, as well as the possibility of changing him of town. Instead, he gives him two things: a book of the Mexican Constitution, telling him that he can use the law at his advantage to squeeze any money to people between taxes and fines, and a gun, to defend himself from the savage habitants of San Pedro (since he discovered that they beheaded their last corrupt mayor).
The next day and after a night of reading the Constitution, Vargas is decided to close a brothel that is accused of many flaws, property of the dire Doña Lupe, person that he already had a conversation before and tried to bribe him. Doña Lupe accused Doctor Morales (town's doctor, also a hater of PRI party as he believed they always committed fraud on him) from having all the town against her, but even if Vargas didn't liked Morales at all, he is decided to close the brothel in the name of law and order. Doña Lupe gets enough of Vargas mockery, and threatens him with a machete, forcing Vargas to respond with his gun. Doña Lupe tries to take off his gun, and in the struggle makes Vargas to shoot her in the leg. Knowing that he couldn't get Vargas out of her business, she tries to bribe him the next day one more time hoping that he will accept. Having no budget at all, Vargas makes a deal with Doña Lupe, with the condition that she will not tell it to anyone.
After solving the issue with Doña Lupe, Vargas takes Licentiate López advice, and tries to swindle San Pedro's habitants with exaggerated taxes and invented fines. When the money finally flows, he tries to take his promise to transform San Pedro into a modern town, starting with provide them with electricity. However, the only thing he could do was installing a single power pole in the middle of San Pedro.
Having enough of Vargas' abuses on her customers and extremely high taxes, Doña Lupe cuts all ties with him and hires a bodyguard named Pancho to get rid of him. Once Vargas came to her establishment for his daily doses of money and prostitutes, Pancho beats him and Doña Lupe threatens a gunless Vargas once more with her machete, forcing him to act like a pig for her enjoyment.
Wounded and angry, Vargas returns to his home with a completely wrecked spirit and sense of humor. This is the
moment when Vargas gets enough of the little respect to authority everyone has, and plots a vengeance against Doña Lupe. When everyone at his home was sleeping, he would look for Doña Lupe the whole town with the intentions of killing her. After killing Pancho, Vargas finishes Doña Lupe with a single shot to the head, and dumps both bodies on a ravine, not before stripping away everything of value from them. However, Vargas was not aware that he left his party button on the crime scene, action that he would regret forever. The button is later discovered by Filemon, a villager that was formerly incriminated by Vargas when he put Pancho's shoes on his hands when he was drunk and sleeping. Filemon was about to spend all his life on jail, but once Vargas discovered that he was the one who had his button, he murders him at cold blood even if Filemon wasn't telling
Vargas killing Filemon.
anything.
After he discovered that his wife was cheating on him with his American partner Robert Smith (a man that was helping on 'modernizing' the town) Vargas turns angrier than ever. He brutally beats his wife and chains her to a pole on his home, and turns himself into an extremely corrupt and despotic tyrant, way worse than he was before. He forces whole town to pay him taxes for every animal and property they had, those who didn't have any money with them were locked in jail until the could pay their tax. Vargas ends up locking half of the town, including Pek for refusing on work with his tyranny. Pek manages to escape, and talks to Vargas' superior Licentiate López, with the hopes that he would help him on turn Vargas to justice. Pek soon realizes that López was even more corrupt and evil than Vargas, congratulating and praising him for changing the constitution of the whole country at his advantage, managing to get a fortune on a poor town like San Pedro. However, López quickly demands all money, with the help of his bodyguard Tiburón he forces Vargas to bring every corrupt fund of the town to him. When Vargas reaches his home to get all the money, he finds that his wife has escaped and took away all the money with her, as she would live with Robert in the United States. Vargas, completely angry and mad for losing everything that was important to him, finally loses his mind and murders Tiburón by slicing his throat with a kitchen knife.
| “ | I'm sorry Master, it's you or me... I was fine, but then you came screwing me up that you're the law, the only authority, the Herod's law! | „ |
| ~ Vargas before murdering Licentiate López. |
Having taken Tiburón's gun, Vargas returns to the town hall to confront his abusive boss, and murders him with single
Vargas with the corpses of López and Tiburón.
shoots to the chest, all in front of an scared Mr. Pek, that manages to escape without getting shot by the insane Vargas. Pek manages to fetch the whole town along with the local priest to confront their corrupt mayor one more time, all of this while an already insane Vargas was speaking to the corpses of their former associates as they were still alive. They burn the town hall to make him go out, and Vargas goes to confront their citizens speaking gibberish and shooting to the air. When he finally realizes the situation he is in, he cries and tries to escape by climbing on the electricity pole, the only thing he did for the town. Vargas begs for mercy and apologizes to the whole town, in a futile attempt to escape his final punishment. However, Vargas' pleas are finally listened, as Ramírez reaches the town looking for López, only to find a desperate Vargas about to be lynched.
Apparently, Licentiate López attempt to murder Governor Terrazas failed, and they needed a scapegoat to cover the tracks of the party. Being turned into the new Secretary of Government, and making people believed that he stopped the conspiracy, Vargas escapes any punishment for his acts, and gets what he always wanted, respect.
Personality[]
Vargas used to be a very kind and well-intentioned individual, with unrealistic beliefs of justice and democracy in general. This traits made Vargas on the principal target of jokes and exploitations from his superiors and every person that is capable to outsmart him. His weak personality and lack of charism made Vargas a slave that only knew subordination, a person that exists solely to flatter those who are above him on power, thing that made him have a complete change of heart.
Once he grow acquainted with the power he never had, and got enough with tolerating the abuses from those who don't respect his authority, Vargas changed from the abused to the abuser. Using justice as his excuse and tool, he turned in an extremely greedy, power-hungry individual whose only motivation is the seek for money and flamboyant life style by squeezing all the money from those who barely have. With a gun in hand, he seeks revenge on those who dare to humiliate or try to take him to justice. When murder is not an option, Vargas resorts to manipulation and incrimination, taking advantage from his place on power he has. Even by being the highest on the hierarchy on his own town, Vargas is and always was a weak-minded individual who can't stand when things go awry, reason of his ultimate snap into insanity and murderous rampage, being the perfect example of what happens when you give enough power to those who can't stand it.
Quotes[]
| “ | Honorable Congress of the Union, I am honored to be in this democracy compound representing my native state. We deputies are bound to fulfill the precepts nation demands. We must be alert and fight without quarter against the enemies of the revolution. Yes! Like I did! By stopping the conspiracy orchestrated by Licentiate Lopez, the ambitious Government Secretary that, with the help of criminals, attempted against that exemplary man that is the newly elected Governor Terrazas. Compatriots, I'm not ashamed to admit it: I've reached this position with bloodstained hands, I won't deny it. Ask for forgiveness would be hypocrisy. But it wasn't stranger, nor brother's blood, it was an enemy's blood! An enemy from those who defend the ideals of the revolution. We have overcame an obstacle, but there are still many more. Because the goal of our party, for the best of the country, is to stay in power, forever and ever! | „ |
| ~ Juan Vargas' speech. |
| “ | Everything's shit. Women? All of them whores! Cows? All of them crazy! Gringos? All of them greedy motherf***ers! | „ |
| ~ Juan Vargas |
| “ | This country has no solution! | „ |
| ~ Juan Vargas |