|
Miss Bala
| Released |
28 October 2011 |
| Director |
Gerardo Naranjo |
Starring
|
Stephanie Sigman, Irene Azuela |
| Writer(s) |
Mauricio Katz, Gerardo Naranjo |
| Producer(s) |
Pablo Cruz |
| Origin |
Mexico |
| Running Time |
113 minutes |
| Genre |
Drama |
| Rating |
15A |
|
|
Bullets and beauty queens.
Miss Bala, written and directed by Gerardo Naranjo, documents a story within the unstoppable wave of carnage of the Mexican drug trade. It is a film born of anger but is far from being a lecture. Instead, it is an articulate, passionate piece of work that takes us away from the clichés of cigar-smoking cartel bosses to some strange, interesting places.
The heroine of the film is Laura (Stephanie Sigman), a shy and somewhat naive girl with a model’s slim figure. Alongside her more worldly, brash friend Suzu, she enters a beauty pageant, seeing it as a means of supporting her impoverished family. After a successful first audition Laura follows her friend to a local club, only for it to be raided by a notorious local gang led by druglord Lino (Noe Hernandez). Several of the revellers are killed and the friends become separated. When Laura reports her friend missing to a policeman, he delivers her into the waiting arms of the gang. Unable to escape, she enters into a strange relationship with Lino, who promises her the beauty queen crown in exchange for her collaboration in their activities.
The worlds of pageantry and drug running make for incongruous bedfellows but Naranjo uses the contrast to show how every aspect of Mexican life has been corrupted by the criminal network. Laura has nowhere to hide - even her own home becomes gang headquarters. Sigman plays the role with a quiet desperation and is incredibly impressive, saying so much without recourse to dialogue. Hernandez is just as interesting as the physically unimposing drug lord Lino.
Visually the film is impeccable, particularly Naranjo’s elegant use of steadicam. Most interesting though, is what he chooses not to show us; many shots are framed so that characters or events are off camera. When we first meet Lino at the club, we just see his boots as he tosses a wad of notes to Laura on the bathroom floor. Laura herself is frequently filmed from behind, the camera peering over her shoulder, so we feel as if we are following just behind her throughout her ordeal. It’s a tactic that really helps us connect with the frequently silent heroine.
Miss Bala is both politically and emotionally complex and has serious arguments to impart but more than that, it is a slick, powerful piece of entertainment.
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Linda O’Brien |
