Frame to Frame
Nonchalant Corruption all the More Frightful
If you’re a lover of film, it’s easy to drown in the month of February under all the Oscar-related blogging, articles, lists, interviews, reviews, predictions and lamentations. Even the world of independent cinema, which very seldom has someone representing at the Kodak theater, sticks its head up from under the ground to hear what all the fuss is about.
But, believe it or not, not all of the film industry revolves around the Academy Awards. Here’s a good example of a film that most certainly should have been floating around the Best Foreign nominee list, but didn’t make the cut.
Miss Bala is a Gerardo Naranjo film, a Mexican slice of drug life that puts an unsuspecting innocent girl smack in the middle of a vicious feud between the government and the “it” organized crime group at the time. Laura Guerrero (the stunning Stephanie Sigman) has aspirations of becoming the next “Miss Baja California” and representing the women of her city, Tijuana.
After following her best friend, and fellow contender, to a club, things take a turn for the worse. The place falls prey to a crime raid and Laura becomes an eyewitness, her best friend nowhere to be found. The story shifts into 5th gear as soon as Laura has her second encounter with the leader of the pack, Lino Valdez (Noe Hernandez, who looks like a bandito straight out of a Sergio Leone spaghetti western), and doesn’t let up until the final shot.
Sigman and Hernadez are excellent in their respective roles, no other actor in the film comes close to what they do and that’s okay, because they are the central figures. There are maybe 4 or 5 frames that Sigman isn’t in, and she displays a very poised and solid performance of a girl who has no idea what’s going to happen next but who always has enough courage to take that next step. As for Hernandez, his rugged face, sinister smile and miner’s hands do most of the acting for him but he transfixes viewers when he’s on-screen, playing his part seamlessly.
It’s the casual way he walks to his car as he’s about to drag a body with it, or points his shotgun a few inches from an old man’s face, that make him all the more terrifying. And this is where Miss Bala shines like the biggest jewel on a tiara.
As packed as it is with the action, it’s clear that Miss Bala takes its own subject matter very seriously. A slow-burning action film may sound like a paradox, but that’s what comes to mind when thinking of a genre for this film. What at first looks like a flaw in the film’s script and direction, digests into something profound that Naranjo is trying to depict: organized crime, corruption and violence is such a daily part of life in Tijuana, that attention or preparation for it in his film isn’t highlighted by a calculated building of tension or clever lines of foreshadowing dialogue. Shit just happens. Gun fights, police officers working for criminals and rape are just some of the surprising events that could be criticized at first glance, but once the film ends on such a malevolently simple note, Naranjo’s intention is clear: by presenting everything on an even playing field, Miss Bala’s message is louder and weightier.
So, while you’re perhaps trying to catch up with all the nominees for the Academy Awards before the ceremony on the 26th, my advice would be to take a breather with Miss Bala. It started making waves at last year’s Cannes Festival where it was praised in the “Un Certain Regard” selection, and tells a chilling tale of rampant corruption and violence in a corner of the world most people know very little about.
Miss Bala is now playing at Cinema du Parc.
