150. Prayers For The Stolen (Noche de fuego); movie review

PRAYERS FOR THE STOLEN (NOCHE DE FUEGO)

Cert 15

111 mins

BBFC advice: Contains strong language, sexual threat

Living our cosseted lives in the UK, it is tremendously difficult to imagine being under threat every single day.

Worse still, being a parent who knows that one day lawless bandits will arrive to take away your daughter.

Tatiana Huezo's riveting Prayers For The Stolen is based in the Mexican jungle where the people live in fear of drug cartels.

They work with them in poppy fields during the day but know they are utterly ruthless and have a reputation for abducting girls.

Mayra Batalla plays a mother who is at her wit's end because her away-working husband never contacts her and she spends every waking hour worried about the murderous bandits.

Her daughter (Ana Cristina Ordóñez González) is first seen as a precocious five-year-old and knows little of the horrors around her.

Every time something terrible happens, her mum explains it away and leaves her to focus on school and playing with her friends (Camila Gaal and Blanca Itzel Pérez).

While there is tension (Ana dives into a covered hole) whenever the gunmen appear, the children lead happy lives.

The story then moves on several years and the situation becomes more perilous as the bandits become more interested in Ana (Marya Membreño) and her pals (Giselle Barrera Sánchez and Alejandra Camacho).

But what can be done? Should the villagers resist at risk of being shot down, leave and try to carve a life elsewhere with no money or continue to duck and dive?

Now the children are older, they look towards different paths to their parents.

I was constantly on edge, fearing that the adults, children or both could be sexually assaulted or gunned down.

The elicited emotion is testament to some great direction from Heuzo.

She has created a movie which feels frighteningly real and enthrals from beginning to end.

Reasons to watch: A community constantly on edge

Reasons to avoid: Keeps action at arm's length

Laughs: None

Jumps: None

Vomit: Yes

Nudity: None

Overall rating: 8.5/10

Did you know? Mexican drug cartels take in between $19 billion and $29 billion annually from drug sales in the US. According to a July 2020 Congressional Research Service report, about 125,000-150,000 homicides were organised crime-related between 2006 to 2018.

The final word. Tatiana Huezo: "I think definitely one of the biggest challenges in doing this was in trying to relate the story in a very violent context  through the eyes of a child and through the eyes of a little girl who is exposed to brutality as a woman." Deadline

 

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