Tatiana Huezo Sánchez who is best known for her documentaries, turns her attention to fiction with a coming of age drama based on Jennifer Clement's novel of the same title. It tells the story of Ana and her two best friends who discover a shocking reality - and a hostile world amidst the drug trafficking in Mexico. It gives a personal touch to something we hear at a distance on the internet. From the first moments of the film, Tatiana chooses to film this through the details, her camera focussing on the minutiae of the environment. She plunges us into an peaceful atmosphere, behind the lush green setup, we feel a discomfort and a lively tension underlying between the villagers. They depends on poppy harvest to make ends meet. There are semi-detached houses with hiding place and girls are made to sport boyish haircuts to escape from the eyes of human traffickers. There is absolutely no hope for the little girls and they tend to get worse as time goes on.
Initially, I was just expecting another usual documentary with realism tag, while storyline does follow the formula, its the treatment that appealed. It has a lot more than one would expect. It seems like a tearjearker war film, but when you dive into it you'll likely see a different pov. The pacing is easy and there is no rush on Tatiana's behalf to get to 'the story', as it were, but rather a strong sense of atmosphere and indulges the viewer through this lack of urgency. It contains an atmospheric and evocative cinematography by Dariela Ludlow Deloya. It is supported with subtle score by Jacobo Lieberman and Leonardo Heiblum. As well as adequate sound design by Lena Esquenazi.
Overall, it is a great proof that this film depicts childhood and adolescence of three girls is by no means exaggerated. It's blends early Jorge Silva, Marta Rodríguez, Alanis Obomsawin's style and is almost like a companion piece to Identifying Features (2020) and Birth Certificate (1961); both thoroughly bleak and does scream for help with no chance for hope.
