Netflix’s 2026 film The Rip has develop into a world sensation, however for Hialeah’s newly elected Mayor Bryan Calvo, the movie’s success feels extra like a private assault on his neighborhood. The film, which dramatizes the 2016 record-breaking $24 million money seizure by Miami-Dade Police, has put town of Hialeah on the middle of a heated real-world debate over illustration, stereotypes, and native pleasure.
Simply weeks into his time period because the youngest mayor in Hialeah’s historical past, the 28-year-old Calvo held a press convention flanked by cops to denounce the movie. His major grievance? The film depicts Hialeah as a hub of corruption and crime, that includes fictional Hialeah officers who’re “crooked”—a portrayal Calvo says is much from the reality.
“This film is a slap within the face to our regulation enforcement personnel,” Calvo said, pointing to the Hialeah Police patch throughout a CBS Miami press convention. “After they say that every one Hialeah Law enforcement officials are corrupt, that could be a large disrespect to town. As mayor, I completely have to face up and defend our picture.”
Calvo cited crime statistics to again his protection, noting that Hialeah ranks because the second most secure main metropolis in Florida and falls inside the high 15% of the most secure main cities within the U.S.
A significant level of competition for the Mayor is the movie’s “lazy” analysis concerning the precise 2016 bust. Whereas the real-life raid on Luis Hernandez-Gonzalez’s dwelling passed off in Miami Lakes, the filmmakers selected to set their fictionalized model in Hialeah.
“We perceive this manufacturing might have been filmed in Miami Lakes… however they selected Hialeah as a result of our metropolis is iconic,” Calvo shared on Instagram. “Nevertheless, that alternative comes with duty. Hialeah is just not a stereotype.”
Including to the frustration is the truth that the movie wasn’t even shot in South Florida. Manufacturing passed off in New Jersey and Los Angeles, resulting in scenes the place the timber and structure clearly don’t match the “Metropolis of Progress.”
Mayor Calvo hasn’t dominated out authorized motion, suggesting town’s attorneys may discover choices concerning the unauthorized use of town’s title and seal, in addition to potential defamation. He has publicly invited Matt Damon and Ben Affleck to truly go to Hialeah to see the “actual” metropolis—one outlined by hardworking households reasonably than Hollywood tropes.
Nevertheless, the native response to the Mayor’s campaign has been combined. Whereas some applaud his protection of Hialeah’s model, others assume the response is overkill:
“Truly, I obtained to facet with the mayor… they simply assumed [Hialeah and Miami Lakes] are one and the identical,” stated one Instagram commenter. “They didn’t do good analysis.””Bruh, it’s only a film. Relax,” stated one other commenter. “You simply took [a] seat.”
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