The Lady of Silence: The Mataviejitas Murders

La Dama Del Silencio. El Caso Mataviejitas (or The Lady Of Silence for the English title) is a Spanish spoken documentary about one of the most famous female serial killers in Mexico. It's well made and informative so I don't get the one star reviews and ratings but everybody is entitled to their opinion. Like always with serial killers cases it's astonishing what kind of mistakes the police forces and investigators made. When you see that innocent people (well at least they're not murderers) are still rotting in jail you can only be ashamed that something like this is still possible in this era. Well it's Mexico so nothing surprises me from a country known for its corruption. Funny (that's sarcastically said) to hear a police officer say that they were surprised to have a serial killer in their country. Let's not forget Mexico is ranked thirteenth in the world for murder rate per capita. So allow me to feel slightly amused to hear such nonsense from a government official. Anyway, I thought this documentary was easy to follow and entertaining if you like true crime documentaries about serial killers.

I'm so sorry to the people who have lost loved ones and have to watch this "documentary" set to this terrible Agatha Christie movie-of-the-week score. Such a disrespectful treatment of your pain.

I gave it three stars SOLELY because giving it only one felt like it might be another slap in the face to the victims, somehow.

I gave up in under ten minutes. Another reviewer called in "pensive" and I have to respectful disagree. I think I'd go with "carnival style", myself.

I'm Mexican and I am aware that my country is surreal at times, but this documentary man, I felt like I was watching a circus, the music made it all feel really strange and creepy.

The murders were gruesome and the way it was all arranged made me feel like they were making fun of it, I had nightmares the day I watched it.

The comments the authorities made were for me sort of disrespectful, and the way the are portrayed is not shocking but peculiar.

None the less it is an interesting subject and the story telling is not confusing. Hope this documentary shine some light and at least help the people who are wrongfully imprisoned released.

Not bad very straight forward! Crazy on the motive tho she probly had it tough growing up wish they had more details about her younger years

Very sad for the loss of their grandmothers the years and amount of people that were killed were crazy.

Mexico had never seen a serial killer before, that topic was new to the authorities at the time made it very challenging to them to capture her.

Conclusion very good doc kept me very interested from the get go never was I drifted attention from it kept on getting more and more interested, I don't get the bad reviews this doc is better than 80% of the garbage that is shown on net !

It's definitely a string of serious and captivating cases.

But there are elements in this documentary that just take away from its seriousness. First of all, some of the officers, seriously, "no serial killer in this country before this (since 1940's)?" Give me an effing break, most countries do, let alone Mexico, the problem is just the failures of many police officers in connecting the dots. It's not the fault of the producers that such inane comments were made, but no pushbacks?

Then the soundtrack, what's up with that? Strange application of a theme. I get it, it could instil a sense of irony and suspense, but there's a balance to strike here. The soundtrack at hand is just stupidly, comically farcical, as if being intentionally disrespectful to the victims. It's real life, not Dick Tracy. It can be funny when mocking politicians and police officers, not when victims are being shown. Also, it's perfectly ok to not have extraneous music for a few moments, the incessantly running music shows a lack of discipline and vision.

Then the pictures of victims being strangled being shown like some kind of visual technique. And a myriad of other visual techniques, they're not just distracting, but take away from the gravitas of the situation.

"Oh she has a robe... must be a healthcare personnel" (is dressing up impossible in the country?). Also this happened between 1999 and 2004, there's no more concrete method to verify DNA or whatnots before each suspect is being showcased in a glass cage like some kind of zoo animal? And the cute lock solution? As if that's going to stop a determined killer? "A man crossdresses as a woman," only for one of the officers to go "oh a homosexual" *face melts away emoji*. "Serial killers don't act near where they live or near their workplaces," says one officer (the same officer who claims it's the first time this is happening in the country, yet he has no qualms dispensing generalizations like a master). Seriously? Says who, which study? Because I can easily name some cases that contradict his assertion. What should a professional conduct be like, you ask? I know, getting the serial killer's signature as a sign of fan-girling.

So. Much. Stupidity.