The Virgin of Juarez

"The Virgin of Juarez", recently presented at the New York International Latino Film Festival dealing with kidnapped and murdered women in the Mexican town of Ciudad Juarez, does a terrible job of exploring the deeper issues behind the events and fails miserably in telling the victim's stories. The second half of this film degenerates into an unconvincing, and at times embarrassing Joan of Arc allegory that in the end belittles the subject matter.

Most frustratingly, the actors try their passionate best to present the gravity of the actual events that took place in Juarez, but are overwhelmed by the silly twists and turns that lead to a ridiculous gunfight between parties that in the end have no real involvement in the crimes the movie intends to talk about.

This movie represents a shameful lost opportunity.

THE VIRGIN OF JUAREZ is based on true events surrounding the crime problems of Juarez, Mexico reflected in the gringo exploitation of businesses in neighboring El Paso, Texas. The story contains many important facts that desperately need to be brought into the light, but the impact of the film falters because of the choices made by the writer and director.

Karina Danes (Minnie Driver) is a journalist for a Los Angeles newspaper who has flown to Juarez to investigate the multiple (in the hundreds) killings of young women. The targets for these murders seem to be young women working in the US sponsored sweatshops in Juarez who are picked up at night after work, raped, beaten and killed. Danes is convinced the Juarez police force is doing nothing and takes on the mission of exposing the tragedies, in part due to her own past issues of being to idle with similar crimes in the US. She meets Father Herrera (Esai Morales) and a community activist Patrick (Angus MacFadyen) and together they probe the police files and follow the most recent murder, discovering along the way a survivor named Mariela (Ana Claudia Talancón), a frightened young girl whose memory of her rape and beating is erased by her apparent vision of the Virgin Mary. A father of one of the victims, Isidro (Jorge Cervera, Jr.) nurtures Mariela and helps her to escape the hospital, placing her in a 'church' where she becomes a 'saint' to the people of Juarez who long for the crimes to end. Mariela appears to the public with the stigmata of bleeding hands and offers hope to the victims' families. Danes works hard to discover evidence that will expose the perpetrators, taking a sheet of photos of 'most wanted men' from the police office of Detective Lauro (Jacob Vargas), and works with the police and Father Herrera to resolve the tragic chain of events that continue in Juarez. Fearing for Mariela's life, they transport her to Los Angeles where mysterious events end the story.

The squeaky, mawkish script was written by Michael Fallon and directed by Kevin James Dobson. Had their vision been more directed toward defining the line between realism and fanaticism, the story would possibly have been better related. There are some good performances by Driver, Talancón, Morales, and Vargas but the minor roles vary in quality. Reporting atrocities such as the one this film addresses is a valid and valuable contribution of contemporary cinema. It is sad when script and the production dull the impact. Grady Harp

IMO, the film is deserving of a middle of the scale rating for being good in some ways, such as some of the acting, but losing focus on the central story. That's why I gave it 5 stars.

To judge by the reviews, some reviewers either had a bad experience working on the film and are leaving 1 star reviews out of anger. They might not have even seen the finished film. Others who want to support the film by leaving a 10 star review might also include people who haven't seen the film as in the case of one 10 star reviewer who said that the film is about "human trafficking of women" when the film is about murders of women.

You'll have to watch at least some of the film and decide for yourself.

This movie is almost as bad as the experience of working on it was - for me, anyway. I think that men with waning careers, such as the director of this movie, should find some sort of an exploitation vehicle to try and remain afloat. To take a true story, where so much innocent blood was - and apparently continues to be - spilled on the streets of Juarez and turn it into a shoot 'em up comic book farce that has zero to do with what actually took place is great disservice to the victims. The story is real, and needs to be told; I am looking forward to the Gregory Nava/Jennifer Lopez vehicle in the works. This movie is very well made, for the means allotted (very low budget), and the cast does an excellent job: too bad the opportunity to bring needed attention to the horrors taking place on our border was wasted by substandard storytelling.

This movie is a tragedy, because it (Kevin Dobson) had an opportunity to tell a very important story about the horrible murders in Juarez but instead he turned it into a stupid shoot em up farce that has nothing to do with the subject matter. The cast is just stumbling along with this painful script, I know the director is in control and everyone has to work, but my God, did they read this garbage first??? And, poor Angus Macfadyen is so terribly miscast. Why the hell would you cast a Scotsman in the part of a Mexican when all the other Hispanic parts are being played by Hispanics? His inability to pull off a believable accent (Not to mention that bad tan job they did on him) made him look foolish. He's a better actor than this film shows.

Go watch something else.