Movie bombshells Salma Hayek, Eva Mendes and Jessica Alba are all well-accustomed to stealing the show wherever they happen to be. It might be more appropriate to say they kidnapped the limelight when they turned out for the premiere of an independent Venezuelan movie in Los Angeles, though. The three performers turned out to show their support for Secuestro Express, which means "Kidnap Express", when it made its debut at California's Pacific Design Centre. By bringing a little A-list glamour to the event the actresses also helped draw attention to one of the most pressing social issues facing Latin America today.
Set in the bustling city of Caracas, the flick tells the story of a young couple who are abducted by three men and spend a terrifying night waiting for their families to hand over a ransom. The tense thriller has been acclaimed for both its quality as a movie and the message it carries about the growing crime problems in Central and South America.
Although they do not appear in the flick, Eva, Salma and Jessica, who are all proud of their Latin heritage, were anxious to help raised its profile. And it's director Jonathan Jakubowicz knows more about the issues it deals with than most, as he was himself the victim of a kidnapping. The 26-year-old insists that in the long term tackling extreme poverty is the only way to overcome the problem. "Either we communicate with each other or we destroy each other," he said. "If we do not help that 80 percent of the population in poverty, nobody will live a human life."
Photo: © Alphapress.com
Photo: © Alphapress.com
