You know how at police stations they have those one-way mirrors, so a victim can look at suspects without the suspects seeing them. Or detectives can watch a criminal in a holding room.
This no-fiction documentary with actors the camera serves like dueling one-way mirrors. Mostly focused on a dramatic re-enactment of two cops in Mexico City, but we also towards the end get to meet the cops who the film is based on.
And on top of that, there is a section where we see the actors spending 100 days in police training with other cadets.
So it's maybe more like a fun-house mirror, and the film is a little disorientating. But perhaps like myself, you are looking for that kind of experience. It's pretty clear early on in the opening dramatic scene, that while the camera is trying to make us feel we are there on the patrol with Officer Teresa, it is clearly staged.
The movie flirts with accusations of injustice, the two actors flirt with each other, the actual cops flirt to the point of being called the Love Patrol.
There is amazing music, including a chase scene that is scored right out of classic 70's police shows as well as a closing Gavin Bryars piece that you might also recognize. And I wonder of that is another editorial comment on the state of la policia en Mexico by the wonderfully talented Ruizpalacios. Oh yeah, there is also I think a woman singing/screaming/crying instead of the police siren.
If you are looking for a film that is an experimental piece of art hiding inside something that looks/feels often like something more commercial, with guns and love - this might be the film for you. It is the kind of film that would be tremendous to see at a festival and hear the director, actors and non-actors discuss afterwards.
I do wonder if the real and reel versions of Teresa and Montoya feel a little about the movie after all is said and done the way the real Teresa and Montoya felt about the police department. Diving into the film, like diving into the Blue/Police Force, requires a pretty great abandon expecting some things are basically ordained to go bad, but will bad dive down to worse.
