The Real Story Behind Jack Black’s Nacho Libre Explained

“Nacho Libre” by Jared Hess in 2006 It was a bizarre idea and one that seems offensive today. Jack Black plays Ignacio, a monk from Oaxaca who works as a chef at a Catholic orphanage. Black speaks with a pidgin Mexican accent, which is… not great. Ignacio harbors dreams of becoming a luchador, which contrasts with his monastic vows against vanity. The film’s plot involves Ignacio’s orphanage running out of money, forcing him to pursue his luchador dreams. If he wins several high-level wrestling matches, then he can afford to feed the children in his care. And since luchadors often wear masks, he has the perfect coverage.

In the midst of all this, Ignacio also begins to fall in love with a nun, Sister Encarnación (Ana de la Reguera), questioning his monastic devotion. He also recruited a young wrestling sidekick named Steven (Héctor Jiménez) who wrestles under the name Esqueleto. It’s curious that the filmmakers cast Mexican actors to play Steven and Sister Encarnación, but stuck with Jack Black – born in Santa Monica, California – to play the lead role. They explained this by saying that Ignacio was an American orphan abandoned in Mexico. But this is not the most culturally sensitive image. “Nacho Libre” is about wrestlingMexican wrestling tradition, but it still takes an outsider’s view of the country, treating Mexico as a cartoonish fantasy land of funny voices and wacky customs.

The screenplay for “Nacho Libre” was written by Hess, his wife Jerusha Hess and star screenwriter Mike White. They were inspired by the real-life exploits of one Sergio Gutiérrez Benítez, a Catholic priest who, in the early 2000s, was secretly moonlighting as a luchador named Fray Tormenta.

Benítez has an interesting story. Born in 1943, he grew up in a large family, the 16th of 17 children. He loved the wave of luchador features that swept through Mexican cinemas in the early 1960s, particularly the 1963 films. “Lord Storm” And “Storm in the ring.” Both of these films have a familiar premise: They’re about a Catholic priest who would pay for his struggling orphanage by moonlighting as a luchador called Tormenta. The films remained in Benítez’s memory. However, as he approached his twenties, Benítez found himself struggling with drug addiction. According to the blog The Eye Mexico, Benítez saw one of his friends die a violent death and turned to the priesthood to purify himself and dedicate his life to righteousness.

Benítez took the priesthood very seriously, studying abroad in Rome and Spain, and attending Catholic colleges in Mexico. He eventually became a secular priest, that is, a kind of priest who is dedicated to the welfare of an entire chosen area and is not relegated solely to religious duties. Benítez founded an orphanage in the town of Texcoco, which took in hundreds of children. He did not seem to worry about financing, because Benítez had, in the back of his mind, a very concrete plan to raise money for the orphanage. Inspired by the “Tormenta” films, Benítez wore a yellow luchador mask and would sneak into town at night to wrestle under the name Fray Tormenta, or “Brother Storm.” He essentially became the movie hero he always wanted to be.

Like many fighters, Fray Tormenta became a local hero. Benítez made an appearance as a retired wrestler in “Nacho Libre”.

Sergio Gutiérrez Benítez, now 80, still runs his orphanage in Texcoco, even though he has long retired from wrestling. His presence in “Nacho Libre” may be a blessing for the production. The film also featured cameos from other real-life wrestlers like Human Tornado and Mascarita Dorada. To add to the Mexican authenticity, Jared Hess filmed the entirety of “Nacho Libre” in Oaxaca. Some places have become tourist destinations.

Benítez was probably happy to appear in Hess’ film, because “Nacho Libre” could only bring more exposure to his orphanage. This was also not the first time that Fray Tormenta was honored in cinema. In 1991, Jean Reno played Fray Tormenta in a French film called “L’Homme au Masque D’or” or “The Man in the Golden Mask”. This film was a more direct adaptation of Fray Tormenta’s real career. Additionally, a year after the release of “Nacho Libre,” Benítez decided to tell his own version of his story in “Padre Tormenta,” a lightly fictionalized version of his life.

Today, Fray Tormenta’s legacy lives on in a comic book series called “Místico: El Príncipe de Plata y Oro,” which features the fictional adventures of the real-life luchador Místico. Fray Tormenta is a regular character in this series. It is no coincidence that Místico (aka Luis Ignacio Urive Alvirde) grew up as a child in the orphanage of Sergio Gutiérrez Benítez. There was also, very briefly in the early 2000s, a mysterious young luchador in operation calling himself Fray Tormenta, Jr. Fray Tormenta has been retired since around 2001, but has appeared occasionally in exhibition matches and other wrestling events since.