152. Our Mothers (Nuestras madres); movie review

OUR MOTHERS (NUESTRAS MADRES)

Cert 15

77 mins

BBFC advice: Contains sexual violence references, moderate sex

Between the 1960s and 1980s, Latin America was a very scary place for those who disagreed with governments.

Most will be aware of the killings in Chile and Argentina and less so those in Brazil but the number of their atrocities were dwarfed in the small state of Guatemala.

An estimated 200,000 were killed in the civil war in which the government sought to exterminate opponents and obliterate the indigenous Mayan people.

The justice sought by the victims's families is the foundation of Cesar Diaz's film Our Mothers.

It stars Armando Espitia as Ernesto, a forensic anthropologist involved in identifying bodies exhumed from mass graves after being murdered by the dictatorship in the 1980s.

It is sombre work and the families of the dead must be treated respectfully as they are finally given the remains of their loved ones.

Meanwhile, Ernesto has to deal with his own past because his father was one of the disappeared people and when the chance comes to discover what happened to him, he finds it irresistible.

However, his mother (Emma Dib) is less keen on reliving the past despite its devastation on her family.

I suspect this sums up the split in the Guatemalan population, with many needing answers and closure and others wanting to draw a veil for very different reasons.

At just 77 minutes, Our Mothers is short for a main feature and probably could have been given an extra 20 minutes to give the audience more context.

That said, it still has time to introduce a significant twist and create an admirable conclusion.

It is illuminating and powerful.

Reasons to watch: Illuminating and powerful

Reasons to avoid: Very short for a feature

Laughs: None

Jumps: None

Vomit: None

Nudity: None

Overall rating: 7.5/10

Did you know?  In 2013, the government conducted a trial of former president Efraín Ríos Montt on charges of genocide for the killing and disappearances of more than 1,700 indigenous Ixil Maya during his 1982–83 rule. He was found guilty and sentenced to 80 years in prison. A few days later, the country's high court called for a renewed trial because of alleged judicial anomalies. The trial began again in 2015, but the jury had not reached a verdict before Montt died in custody on 1 April 2018.

The final word. Cesar Diaz: "In Guatemalan Indian oral tradition, things must be spoken for them to exist. When a newcomer arrives in a village, that person is told what happened at this place so that it is never forgotten. He or she is projected into the intimacy of a story that is sometimes extremely violent." 

 

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