Prayers for the Stolen (2021)
Prayers for the Stolen
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Why watch this film?
With her third feature film, filmmaker Tatiana Huezo ("Tempestade") takes a leap into fiction cinema and the transition is, in general terms, a success. Even though the implications of narrating fiction are different (with a script based on Jennifer Clement's novel "Prayers for the Stolen"), the director maintains with "Noche de fuego" a thematic continuity of her previous feature films. These are topics such as the anger and fear of those who have been displaced from their homes by crime and war, with special emphasis on female victims of these contexts. The film is forceful in its representation of a painful reality in contemporary Mexico, but it never falls into the exploitation of the misery of other similar films. On the contrary, Huezo preserves her mastery to portray what cannot be seen, the anger and fears that are not stated, but that are understood between the lines (or between the images). The impact is somewhat diluted by the immediacy of fiction - the lyricism of the narrated memory, essential in "Tempestade", has no place here - but its proximity to tell the story of a mother and daughter, who represent so many other women, inevitably and indisputably shakes the viewer.
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Plot summary
Life in a town at war seen through the eyes of three young girls on the path to adolescence.
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From the same director
Tempestad
A very necessary documentary for the times that Mexico is going through. In the midst of the violence and corruption that plague our country, the stories of Adela and Miriam inspire love and resistance in the face of the abyss of loss and cruelty. 'Tempestad' received multiple international recognitions, and made Tatiana Huezo the first woman to win a Ariel Award for Best Direction in the history of Mexican cinema. In addition, this director offers us a totally unprecedented and innovative narrative in Mexican cinema. Absolutely necessary for any discussion, however casual, about Mexican cinema.
The Tiniest Place
In her first full-length documentary, director Tatiana Huezo already shows a way of making cinema that she would later consolidate with her next film, 'Tempestad'. 'The Smallest Place' brings together testimonies from the inhabitants of Cinquera, a small town in El Salvador that was taken away from them during the civil war - along with relatives and friends - and who have now returned to rebuild and continue with their lives. The documentary presents painful stories, but does not exploit them, instead it dignifies them by presenting them in the voices of its protagonists, interspersed with the joys, hopes and expectations of their current lives. The film won the Ariel for Best Full Length Documentary and was presented at various film festivals around the world, receiving a special mention at the Mar del Plata Film Festival and the audience award at the Monterrey Festival.
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