‘Revenant’ director on Mexican filmmakers: 'We’ll build a wall made entirely out of Oscars'

According to President Trump, you can supposedly reduce all Mexican immigrants to either "drug dealers," "criminals," or "rapists." Yet it seems he conveniently left out one of the actual occupations Mexicans are dominating in America: Best Picture Academy Award-winning directors.

After Guillermo del Toro's big win for The Shape of Water on Sunday, his friend and fellow Mexican director Alejandro Gonzalez Iñárritu had the best response to Donald Trump's ongoing obsession with building his "beautiful wall" (that neither Mexico nor the United States appear willing to pay for).

"!Vamos a hacer un muro de puros Oscars!” he reportedly exclaimed to an El Pais reporter. Or, as People translated, “We’re going to build a wall made entirely out of Oscars!”

The Shape of Water's win in both the Best Picture and Best Director categories was, in fact, not a historic moment. It was actually part of a well-established, ongoing trend that's showing no signs of slowing down.

Over the last five years, four of the Best Picture Oscar winners have been Mexican directors. That doesn't include all the other talents of Mexican descent who've been scooping up Hollywood's most prestigious awards in their own categories too.

In 2014, Cuarón won for Gravity, while Iñárritu won two years in a row for Birdman (2015) and The Revenant (2016). Meanwhile, Emmanuel Lubezki was the first Mexican cinematographer to win three years in a row for his work on Gravity, Birdman, and The Revenant. And at the 2018 Oscars, the almost unanimously beloved Coco, a Pixar film centered around the Mexican Day of the Dead, won for Best Animated Film -- to absolutely no one's surprise.

Original image has been replaced. Credit: Mashable

Iñárritu's comment perfectly sums up how Mexican immigrants and Mexican-Americans are already winning the cultural war against Donald Trump's white supremacy. Because while people like Trump keep busy chasing after their imaginary monuments to racism, the Mexicans they're trying to keep out of America are busy achieving tangible, monumental accomplishments.

During his acceptance speech, del Toro thanked the two other renowned Mexican filmmakers, referring to their group as the "Three Amigos."

“I am an immigrant, like many, many of you, and in the last 25 years, I’ve been living in a country all of our own. Because I think the greatest thing our industry does is erase the lines in the sand. We should continue doing that when the world tells us to make them deeper,” he continued. "This is a door. Kick it open and come in."

Sunday's big night for Mexicans in Hollywood came only days before the White House, via Jeff Sessions' Justice Department, sued the state of California for its "sanctuary city" policies, which are aimed at protecting undocumented immigrants from deportation. (Los Angeles is nearly 50% Hispanic and Latino, which is astounding when you consider much more meager percentage of Latinos employed in Hollywood.)

There are untold gatekeeping barriers for Mexicans and Latinos living in America, now more than ever. But Iñárritu's response perfectly crystallizes how we all lose, no matter our background, when further barriers are placed between us.

Because, the thing is, Donald Trump can keep his ugly (and, to reiterate, imaginary) wall. In return, Mexico will gladly keep its export of Oscar-winning films, artists, and creativity for itself.