This film was especially well produced with exceptional realism, location filming, and scoring, especially guitar. The moving story focused on the true crime drama of a baby snatcher and the courageous stand taken by the child's birth mother to locate her.
The film opens with a new baby being welcomed into the world. This is little Delimar ("by the sea"), a beautiful baby girl. But while still an infant, tragedy strikes, and Luz Cuevas is the relentless mother who is convinced that her daughter did not die in a fire that gutted the family's home. Instead, Luz was an eyewitness to an empty crib during the pandemonium of the fire. In an official report, the fire department incredibly offered a portion of a burnt mattress as the remains of the child!
By this point, one would think that Luz's husband Pedro and other family members would be supportive of Luz's search. But, they are not. Luz struggles for six years for clues related to her daughter's disappearance. She catches a break when a kind politician listens to her story and launches an investigation through his contacts with the police. Eventually, a DNA test will settle matters one way or the other.
An interesting choice on the part of the filmmakers was to humanize the villain. Valerie Valleja appeared to be a caring mom to her little girl. While she is angling to get the child into acting through commercials for her own financial benefit, Valerie is nonetheless devoted to the child. But it was an enormous mistake on her part to return to Philadelphia, where she knew Luz was snooping around. Eventually, Val pleaded "no contest" to kidnapping and was assigned a nine- to thirty-year prison sentence.
In downplaying the motivations of Val, the filmmakers directed their attention to the indomitable spirit of Luz, who will stop at nothing to reunite with little Delimar. The husband wanted to "start over" after the disappearance of the child. That response was unacceptable to Luz, whose mother's instinct told her that there was to be no fresh start until she located her little girl by the sea.
The film opens with a new baby being welcomed into the world. This is little Delimar ("by the sea"), a beautiful baby girl. But while still an infant, tragedy strikes, and Luz Cuevas is the relentless mother who is convinced that her daughter did not die in a fire that gutted the family's home. Instead, Luz was an eyewitness to an empty crib during the pandemonium of the fire. In an official report, the fire department incredibly offered a portion of a burnt mattress as the remains of the child!
By this point, one would think that Luz's husband Pedro and other family members would be supportive of Luz's search. But, they are not. Luz struggles for six years for clues related to her daughter's disappearance. She catches a break when a kind politician listens to her story and launches an investigation through his contacts with the police. Eventually, a DNA test will settle matters one way or the other.
An interesting choice on the part of the filmmakers was to humanize the villain. Valerie Valleja appeared to be a caring mom to her little girl. While she is angling to get the child into acting through commercials for her own financial benefit, Valerie is nonetheless devoted to the child. But it was an enormous mistake on her part to return to Philadelphia, where she knew Luz was snooping around. Eventually, Val pleaded "no contest" to kidnapping and was assigned a nine- to thirty-year prison sentence.
In downplaying the motivations of Val, the filmmakers directed their attention to the indomitable spirit of Luz, who will stop at nothing to reunite with little Delimar. The husband wanted to "start over" after the disappearance of the child. That response was unacceptable to Luz, whose mother's instinct told her that there was to be no fresh start until she located her little girl by the sea.
