Gerardo Naranjo © AFP
Miss Bala, beauty queen of the cartels
Gerardo Naranjo’s Miss Bala will be screened today in Un Certain Regard. Starting with a press clipping, the Mexican filmmaker seized an incident from the world of glamour, drugs and organised crime to depict a country that has fallen prey to extreme violence. Along with Days of Grace (Dias de Gracia), screened Tuesday 17 May Out of Competition, Miss Bala is the second Mexican film to depict this country in its darkest aspects.
“Suspected of drug trafficking, Miss Latin America is imprisoned for forty days.” The news circled the globe and Gerardo Naranjo picked up on it. At the heart of this affair was Laura Zuniga, Miss Mexico. At the age of 23, she had everything, until the day she was arrested. In December 2008, she was taken by the police in the company of seven men known to be involved in organised crime. In their car, the police found assault rifles, ammunition and over fifty thousand dollars. The beauty queen was held behind bars for forty days and her crown was revoked. Here were all the materials for a film script. On screen, Gerardo Naranjo’s beauty queen is named Laura Guerrera, played by Stephanie Sigman. On the verge of her glory, she fell into the net of organised crime.
In his previous film, I’m Gonna Explode (Voy a Explotar), Gerardo Naranjo had already explored this milieu through the eyes of a foreigner. With Miss Bala, his third feature film, he plunges even deeper into the Mexico of drug trafficking and crime. “I am not interested in understanding the psychology of these people; I don’t want to give them a human dimension. The most important thing was to see them from the outside.” After months of research, reading articles and books, this time, Gerardo Naranjo goes to the heart of the problem and wants to stimulate reactions as much as emotions.
T.K.
Miss Bala will be screened at 2 p.m. and at 10 p.m., Salle Debussy
