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MISS BALA (2019)
Director: Catherine Hardwicke Cast: Gina Rodriguez, Ismael Cruz Córdova, Matt Lauria, Cristina Rodlo, Ricardo Abarca, Damián Alcázar, Anthony Mackie, Aislinn Derbez MPAA
Rating: Running Time: 1:44 Release Date: 2/1/19 |
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Review by Mark Dujsik | February 1, 2019 The opening credits of Miss Bala state that the movie is "based on the Spanish-language film." That's it. There's no mention of any person involved in the making of that movie, and there's not even a notice that the original has the same title. The suspicious type might think that the filmmakers of this remake are trying to distance themselves from Gerardo Naranjo's 2011 movie, inspired by the true story of a beauty pageant queen who was arrested with members of a gang. The quick dismissal of Naranjo's technically assured but thematically questionable movie in the credits is just the beginning of the remake's attempts to differentiate itself from its source. The most distinct change is in this new version's protagonist, a Mexican-American makeup artist, living in Los Angeles, who travels to Tijuana, where she spent part of her life, to help a friend prepare for her participation in a state-wide beauty competition. While there, she is caught up in the illegal business of a violent drug cartel, as well as the gang's ongoing battle with DEA agents and the local police—at least the ones who aren't on the gang's payroll. A shift in the character's nationality is obvious, given that this is Hollywood adaptation trying to appeal to an audience in the United States, and mostly inconsequential to plot. Those who have seen the original movie know that the protagonist there, a poor 20-something who wants to participate in the beauty pageant herself, becomes an entirely passive presence amidst the threats, the murders, the gunfights, the various deals, the sexual assaults, and the assorted political maneuvers, betrayals, and double-crosses. That movie portrayed her as a perpetual victim, helpless to and powerless against the influence of every system she encountered. Gareth Dunnet-Alcocer's screenplay for this new version doesn't just alter the protagonist's nationality and name. It gives her an entirely different personality and way of looking at the mess in which she gets herself. There are times when Dunnet-Alcocer and director Catherine Hardwicke's interpretation doesn't simply feel like a mostly English-language, somewhat more action-oriented, and much more audience-friendly version of the material. It often feels like a direct critique of Naranjo's movie and especially its portrayal of the protagonist. The setup is basically the same as the original. Gloria (Gina Rodriguez) and her best friend Suzu (Cristina Rodlo) go out to a local club to hobnob with people involved in the pageant. While in the bathroom, Gloria witnesses a gang of men, led by Lino (Ismael Cruz Córdova), sneak into the club. Lino tells Gloria to stay silent about what she has seen and to leave immediately if she wants to live. She and Suzu are separated in the subsequent massacre by Lino's gang, and in her attempts to find her friend, Gloria ends up working for Lino to save her own life. That work includes unwittingly driving a bomb in front of a DEA safe house and running drugs across the border in exchange for guns. Unlike her counterpart in the original movie, Gloria doesn't simply take the constant abuse of the men who hold influence over her—from Lino and his crew, to a DEA agent (played by Matt Lauria) who threatens to arrest her for her participation in the bombing, to the mysterious gun runner (played by Anthony Mackie), to the local police chief (played by Damián Alcázar) who finances the pageant and won't keep his hands off the contestants. The difference is somewhat effective on a dramatic level, since we're not watching a character who doesn't try to fight back. Instead, we're watching a protagonist who does try to find a way out but simply cannot. If we're generous in interpreting the filmmakers' intentions, the contrast between the central figures of the two movies is a fascinating act of film criticism by means of the remake itself. There are, of course, a few problems with this theory, since this version possesses its own problems, primarily in how the ruthlessness of the gang's actions are downplayed (Lino comes close to being a sympathetic figure for reasons that make little sense) and in the general tone, which starts as a Kafkaesque nightmare of entrapment, only to quickly shift gears to a simplistic revenge story during the climax. Whatever one might think of the original's protagonist, there was an undeniable sense of reality to the terror of her experiences. In their attempts to create a more active heroine in this version (Rodriguez holds her own in that regard), Dunnet-Alcocer and Hardwicke have gone too far in the opposite direction. The entire story becomes a game of sorts, in which a combination of Gloria's just-competent-enough wits and her opponents' just-convenient-enough stupidity give her the upper hand—until someone puts a stop to it with a threat. By the finale, there's no sense of reality to Gloria and her travails. The movie essentially becomes a fantasy of a thriller, in which there are no real consequences (Every obstacle is cleared, and everyone in peril is saved) and our protagonist hastily becomes a candidate for an action-movie series. Miss Bala might be a subversive act of cinematic critique, although there's plenty of evidence that it's probably just another misguided remake. Copyright © 2019 by Mark Dujsik. All rights reserved. |
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(for sequences of gun violence, sexual and drug content, thematic
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