In Jayro Bustamante's third feature film, La Llorona, he reimagines the old legend of La Llorona to give it a social and political spin.
The film centers around a paranoid dictator named Enrique, who's based on former Guatemalan president Efraín Ríos Montt. The story really hits home on the subject of genocide and social class in Guatemala. It can he described as a downward spiral where all the characters descend into paranoia and madness and are forced to examine their own prejudices, guilts and shortcomings.
The cinematography is one of the strongest aspects of this movie. The film's gloomy and dark feel is perfectly captured by it, especially in the scenes where the dictator wanders around the house in the middle of the night and during the trial when the victims are testifying.
Maria Mercedes Coroy does an amazing job portraying Alma, "La Llorona", in this story. The creepy stares, the long hair covering her face, every detail is on point. My only issues are with some of the dialogue and acting. Some scenes have really forced and unnatural dialogue and actors like Sabrina de la Hoz and Margarita Kenéfic do not do a good job conveying it. Especially Sabrina, her performance consists on looking confused and worried for almost the entirety of the movie and the moments she speaks the line delivery is so flat. Kenéfic on the other hand, starts out the same way, but her character benefits from some great development that redeems her performance in the end.
Overall, the film does a great job portraying and how indigenous people in Guatemala were victimized by our leaders. Kudos to the filmmakers for daring to touch on these subjects. A lot of people in Guatemala are still scared to dive into these stories, so it's amazing to see it portrayed so bluntly on screen.
The film centers around a paranoid dictator named Enrique, who's based on former Guatemalan president Efraín Ríos Montt. The story really hits home on the subject of genocide and social class in Guatemala. It can he described as a downward spiral where all the characters descend into paranoia and madness and are forced to examine their own prejudices, guilts and shortcomings.
The cinematography is one of the strongest aspects of this movie. The film's gloomy and dark feel is perfectly captured by it, especially in the scenes where the dictator wanders around the house in the middle of the night and during the trial when the victims are testifying.
Maria Mercedes Coroy does an amazing job portraying Alma, "La Llorona", in this story. The creepy stares, the long hair covering her face, every detail is on point. My only issues are with some of the dialogue and acting. Some scenes have really forced and unnatural dialogue and actors like Sabrina de la Hoz and Margarita Kenéfic do not do a good job conveying it. Especially Sabrina, her performance consists on looking confused and worried for almost the entirety of the movie and the moments she speaks the line delivery is so flat. Kenéfic on the other hand, starts out the same way, but her character benefits from some great development that redeems her performance in the end.
Overall, the film does a great job portraying and how indigenous people in Guatemala were victimized by our leaders. Kudos to the filmmakers for daring to touch on these subjects. A lot of people in Guatemala are still scared to dive into these stories, so it's amazing to see it portrayed so bluntly on screen.