A taut Mexican drama about a mother’s search for her kidnapped daughter, La Civil played in the Un Certain Regard section of the 2021 Cannes Film Festival. The film is built around the performance of actress Arcelia Ramírez as the mother, Cielo. It’s not the first missing child / vigilante parent movie, but the complexity of the setting and the brutality of its deep culture of violence steep this film in added layers of drama and tension. Knowing the plot was inspired by a real story, and suspecting tragedy while holding out hope all along, makes the film that much more heartbreaking to watch.
Read the full review at AWFJ.org.
Images courtesy of Zeitgeist Films.
Comments