Title: Miss Bala

Director: Gerardo Naranjo

The psychology of needing to be wanted is fascinating. Wanting to be put on that pedestal and have people admire and love you for something superficial or noble is part of the job of being a celebrity. This idea, or notion, of wanting to be desired, or the cost of fame, or just wanting to represent your people is mixed and infused with drug trafficking in the new film, “Miss Bala”. The power and influence a, seemingly, small drug cartel has in the border town of Baja, California, Mexico is set in motion early on in this unassuming thriller.

“Miss Bala” is the story of Laura Guerrero (Stephanie Sigman) a young woman in her early 20s from Tijuana who wants to enter a beauty pageant with her best friend Suzu. As the story unfolds, they find themselves in the middle of a drug trafficking ring when the invasion of a local nightclub becomes a bloodbath of DEA agents and police. The pair gets separated and the film follows Laura in her pursuit to find her friend. What comes next is a series of mind bending and confusing situations that lead Laura to running drugs and money for the drug cartel.

When I say confusing, I mean it. The audience is put into Laura’s position throughout the whole movie. Her confusion, desperation and fear is now the audience’s. We never get a good foothold with the world around us until the very end. We meet the would be leader of this drug cartel, Lino (Noe Hernandez), who forces Laura to do demeaning and demoralizing things to run drugs and money over the border into the US. It is interesting to see how Laura is completely broken down from beginning to the end of this film. Starting off as a strong, caring young woman, turning into a shell of a human being. An audience might be put off by the way Laura is treated during this movie but it goes along with the theme of mental trauma and survival. We are questioning every decision Laura makes as she is led into this corrupt and dishonest world but that’s what makes this film so fascinating and rich.

This film takes cues from Steven Soderberg’s “Traffic” in terms of photography and pacing. The film has this warm feeling, which goes along with how dry the setting is but there’s this coldness that lingers throughout. As moments of this film pass by, we increasingly become distant from Laura but not her plight. Does she represent the bewilderment of drug mules and victims of the drug wars? Or is she the coldness that comes along with this line of business? Or maybe more simply put, is she just someone caught in a horrible situation, doing their best to survive it? Either way, this film is haunting and eerie with tones of the surreal. This is a strange odyssey and if you’re up for it, it’s worth the journey. It feels like the further away from the film and the material you get, the more you’ll grow to appreciate it. There is a sense of hopelessness that comes with the entire picture. This is due to the fact that drugs trafficking is a problem for both Mexico and the US, with no end in sight.

“Miss Bala” is screening on Oct 1st and Oct 2nd.

Technical: B+

Acting: B+

Story: A-

Overall: B+

by @Rudie_Obias