Search for a better life caught in the crossfire

January 27, 2012|By Betsy Sharkey, Tribune Newspapers critic
  • Stephanie Sigman stars in "Miss Bala."
Stephanie Sigman stars in "Miss Bala."

What happens when being in the right place at the right time is also the wrong place at the wrong time? When what saves you could ultimately destroy you? That's the terrifying minefield that the terrific "Miss Bala"navigates in a modern-day Mexico where beauty pageants, politics, police, power and a billion-dollar drug business mingle to deadly effect.

Directed with great verve by Gerardo Naranjo, the film takes on the bloody running turf wars of the narcotics trade from street level. It is seen through the eyes of Laura Guerrero (Stephanie Sigman), an impoverished young beauty whose dreams and whose life are about to become part of the collateral damage. There is a larger message to be found here, but it never derails the taut vintage thriller that's been constructed.

Written by Naranjo and Mauricio Katz, the film unfolds over three days as local girls gather to compete in Baja's state beauty pageant, with its promises of fame and money. What the film captures so effectively is the cultural reality of Mexico's ubiquitous underclass, the beauty contest a callous cattle call of nervous hopefuls in cheap dresses and forced smiles.

At a nightclub the first night, where some of its well-connected patrons might "help" on the pageant front, Laura gets caught in the crossfire of a gang shootout, with the terrified girl surviving but seeing too much and, worse, being seen. The filmmakers use Laura's desperate bid to survive to make Mexico's drug crises punishingly personal. Bit by bit, her confidence is eroded, her instincts questioned, beginning with the pageant director who snipes that her hands look like a maid's and ending again and again with the poisonous Lino (Noe Hernandez), the local drug honcho she keeps crossing.

The narrative is unflinching in its tone, and despite the death spiral Laura seems to be on, her predicament is never played for pity. The visual style is equally direct. In the past, the director has tended to experiment, playing with everything from French New Wave to noir, his debut with 2006's "Drama/Mex" included. But here Naranjo keeps the focus tight, the pace fast and the desperation high. By doing so, he has created a film that balances its extremes with its nuance. Bodies ripped open by machine guns pile up in gruesome numbers as blood streaks and pools on the sidewalks, bedrooms and dance clubs around Baja. Well executed and riveting, the action is nevertheless what you'd expect a drug war would generate.

MPAA rating: R (for language, some brutal violence and sexuality)

Running time: 1:53; in Spanish with English subtitles

Opening: Friday at the Century 12, Evanston