Jaula surprises with a mysterious and engaging plot, but fails in the end because it becomes too convenient. Considering the character development, the final events feel more Ex-Machina than natural.
Paula and Simón are returning to their home via the highway. Things are not going well between them. In the middle of the highway, they find a lost girl. The scene itself is overblown just for entertainment and unnecessary tension.
The girl, whom they call Clara, is malnourished and has serious physical and mental problems. Through a plot mechanism, Paula decides that they should stay with her until the Authorities find Clara's parents, or at least find out what's going on.
The plot focuses on the relationship between Paula and Clara, evolving into adverse situations that hurt our conception of Clara. She has post-traumatic disorders that make us doubt her sanctity.
The plot is good, until we find out what's going on. Then things get a little bad. In a long and tedious scene, we have a formal explanation of every plot detail so far, showing us how each event played out from another point of view. Until then, we only had Paula's point of view; adding another point of view in the middle of the movie broke the imagination a little bit for me.
From this point on, things are just too convenient. I don't want to go into details that spoil the film, but I'll just say that everything, while plausible, is a little silly. I'll talk about this topic later, with spoilers.
In the end, the movie is good, satisfying, but these plot flaws force a 7 out of 10. With a little adjustment, I'd say the movie would be a near-perfect thriller, probably the fruit of a novel. In the end, we were left with just one good thriller film, recommendable, but flawed.
**WARNING: Additional notes with SPOILERS**
Paula resolves to confront the villain, unable to recognize the danger she finds herself in. I understand that she is carried away by maternal feelings, but she knows what the villain is capable of after evaluating a suspicious case; at the very least, she should be alert.
The villain, aware that Paula discovered him, does not kill her. I tolerate that, because his motive is plausible, but later not killing Paula is just plot convenience, a ruse so that everything ends well.
These events, added to the lengthy scene that explains the details of how the villain covered it all, lowered the film's rating for me.
