A powerful movie, in selected theaters for a selected audience

olafco03

Miss Bala was a riveting movie that abducts the audience taking them deep into the movie and leads them on an emotional heart-pounding ride. The film was a great success largely in part to the outstanding performance of Stephanie Sigman and the superb storytelling abilities that director Gerardo Naranjo displayed.

The film had a good script that seemed natural and flowed very well as the movie progressed. Also, the cinematography was excellent as is did a great job submerging the audience right into the film. Often times the suspense was clenching as the camera focused into a still point on the protagonist and the audience mimicked the character wanting to see what was around the corner but hesitated to look because we all knew danger lurked. As the plot delved deeper, the lines dividing what we thought we knew get blurry. This feeling of confusion was amplified by Sigman's realistic performance. It was like an emotional 3D effect, where not only was the character unsure of what was going to happen the audience themselves were not too sure either. I didn't have to hear a cheesy narration (*cough, cough* Savages) to know just how the main character felt at any giving time, I could just see Sigman's face and know exactly how she felt. In the end the audience follows Sigman's character through thick and thin, wondering, worrying, try, failing, and is left at the mercy of the fate.

Though this movie is a very well made, no movie is unblemished. A few flaws to point out is that the movie jumps from plausible to farfetch events. Also this movie may have a few plot holes that cannot be fully explained by anyone.

The selected theaters is a key point to note a few things. This is not a typical action movie, this a drama/suspense film with action in it. This movie is not a good guys versus bad guys movie with a clear black and white distinction, this is a film that mirrors real life and has many shades of grey. This is not a mainstream movie that ends with a pretty bow wrapped around it, this is a film that leads to many questions about an issue that is very important in a beautiful country. This movie hits and it hits hard be prepared because most people that like "happily ever afters" is not part of that selected audience that needs to see this movie.

score 8/10

olafco03 26 November 2012

Reprint: https://www.imdb.com/review/rw2711127/