Miss Bala

Starring: Stephanie Sigman, Noe Hernandez

Synopsis:

Laura, a young girl from a hard working family in Mexico’s rough border town Tijuana, and her friend Suzu dream of entering and winning the miss Baja Beauty contest. They think it will be the first steps on the road to glamour celebrity and riches, and a way out of the relentless grind of their daily lives.

Following a disastrous entry try out with the judging panel Suzu leads the pair to an underground nightclub to try to persuade some of the pajeant organizers to change their minds.

The club is also a hang out for a bunch of Mexican Federal anti-drugs officers.

Whilst Laura is in the clubs restrooms and her friend is out on the dancefloor a group of heavily armed men storm the place and kill several police officers. In the ensuing chaos Suzu disappears with the armed men, members of a drugs cartel.

Laura narrowly escapes with her life. Bewildered and terrified at what has just happened and desperate to find her friend Laura embarks on a search through Tijuana’s criminal underworld, completely alone and surrounded by people to whom her life means less than nothing.

Review:

A large part of this film is a brutal no holds barred excursion into the reality of organized crime in Mexican life, seen through the eyes of a young but definitely not naïve Mexican girl from a working family.

Anyone who has read a news report in the last five years on the illegal drugs trade in Mexico and the U.S will know how influential the Cartels and gangs have become, and how much pressure the various Mexican and American Law Enforcement agencies are under. Indeed in some places the Law cannot reach and civil life is controlled by organized criminals.

This film pretty much starts from the point of view that the Police have nothing to offer our heroine. From the minute she sees them in the club she doesn’t bother to hide her contempt, Fair enough though considering that they were drunk in uniform and throwing their weight around. And when her friend is kidnapped amidst a scene of bloodshed and mayhem she doesn’t even think of approaching the cops for help - it would be pointless or worse, dangerous, so she is forced to begin her search on the doorstep of the gangsters themselves.

Sigman’s performance is crucial to the film. She portrays the powerless young girl caught in a situation beyond her control perfectly, but it is in the subtlety of the character’s underlying strength that she really shines.

Riding on the balance between her desire to remain untainted by the violence and criminality around her, and her determination to do whatever it takes to find her friend.

So an even larger part of this film is a study of friendship and loyalty. Who is the more courageous really? The cops and DEA men? They’re portrayed as unaccountable thugs in uniform given more and more free reign as the war of attrition with the gangsters spirals out of control.

The gangsters? Their code of honour and loyalty to their organization sits in stark contrast to the film’s portrayal of utter venality in their behavior. They feed on the misery of countless addicts, and exploit the people of the ghettos daily. It’s easy to be murderous and psycho when there’re dozens of you and you have the population terrified.

But an unarmed girl on her own, forced into indignity and suffering and getting up and facing it again and again? There is a great courage being portrayed here in this role and Sigman is wonderful, never overplayed and always convincing.

Noe Hernandez as the malevolent criminal boss Lino is masterful. An utterly ruthless single minded predator commanding an equally ruthless band of violent men. How does he command them? Through the magnetizing fear he generates in every physical encounter he has.

In a very uneasy early sequence of the film he threatens Laura’s life, bribes her to commit a criminal act, then casually gropes her leg and crotch, all the while grinning emptily at her, not because he is daring her to object, but because he knows she cannot and he wants to do it.

He is a man completely comfortable brushing aside any of societies laws and taboos because he realizes that they will never apply to him.

He portrays a terrifying character and it’s as well that he does. People like Lino are a reality for many people in Mexico and not something to be turned into pantomime villains.

Naranjo’s direction is far reaching and impressive. Artistically framed longshots make full use of Barrio architecture and street vistas for chases and shootouts. Surprising angles of view bring building exteriors to life as characters climb in and out of windows to variously attack or escape in the early scenes. Then crushingly claustrophobic close-up shots bring the horror of abduction to life as Laura is tied up and bagged in the back of Lino’s (the Gang Boss) car. Other reviewers have compared the directorial style with Michael Mann and perhaps it is possible to see why.

But I think this is to ‘damn Naranjo with faint praise’. Yes there is a very cool visual theme here. A playfulness with the space the actors inhabit, but there is a definite South American flavor to the framing and composition of this work, and definitely to the choreography and movement of the background artistry.

The combat sequences also show much more indiscriminate brutality and higher body counts than is usually seen in Mann’s films.

The narrative is not straightforward, we are rushing to keep pace with a series of twists shocks and betrayals, as is our heroine.

And we are increasingly impressed by her ability to do so. Indeed there is a moment further into the film where we see her coping with a chaotic gunfight and several near death experiences and then faltering with the emotional gear change of going back onto the catwalk for the final the beauty pajeant.

It appears that this vulnerable seeming girl has more ability to cope when the situation gets out of hand than the Gangsters do when it becomes clear that their organization has been penetrated and that there allies are in hot water as well.

There is an energy in the actors physical interaction which is distinctly Latin, a purpose and vitality which Mann might miss in favour of his trademark immaculately constructed portraiture.

Verdict:

It is a beautiful film of an awful subject. It is masterfully shot from start to finish which would be an accomplishment enough, but it is also attempting to be a faithful portrayal of the frightening situation facing Mexico and many other countries in South and Central America.

On a slightly off note however the subtitling is a little disappointing. I am not a fluent Spanish speaker by any stretch of the imagination (despite my pen name…) but even I noticed some clumsy translation. Some moments of, shall we say salty language between Laura and her friend early on were cleaned up, some conversational to and fro was shortened considerably and certain words and terms missed out completely.

It might not seem like much, but if the viewer speaks no Spanish and is relying on subs to understand a character then you have effectively changed the character.

Other than that it is an intensely dramatic film and satisfying to watch.

8 out of 10 - Recommended. (Sulaco)

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