The legend of La Llorona in Latin America is of a woman who was abandoned and became a wandering ghost weeping for her children. It is given an unearthly and uniquely Guatemalan twist here. A once fearsome general whose troops committed atrocities under his command is now elderly, frail and charged with genocide. He is declared guilty and yet freed without punishment. Protestors surround his home. At about the same time a mysterious young woman arrives in the household to take a job that no one else will take. She says her home is in the deepest part of the mountain. Unearthly weeping is heard in the night and perhaps justice will be done.
The Weeping Woman is a powerful, surreal film that shook me to my core. It combines history, politics and myth in a spectacular way. Through enthralling dream sequences and eerie, jarring music La Llorona sheds light on injustice and genocide in Guatemala. Nearly half of the country's indigenous community, which is two thirds of the entire population, was killed in the relatively recent bloodshed. Most were children. Writer-director Bustamante wisely does not rub our faces in the genocide. The subject is handled obliquely. Through the general's wife, daughter and granddaughter the film reveals how the unresolved injustices haunt individuals and nation alike. Future generations are affected by the wounds the present generation ignores. Bustamante is the director of Ixcanul, another amazing film. The Weeping Woman won the best film prize at the Venice film festival and I saw it at the Toronto international film festival.
The Weeping Woman is a powerful, surreal film that shook me to my core. It combines history, politics and myth in a spectacular way. Through enthralling dream sequences and eerie, jarring music La Llorona sheds light on injustice and genocide in Guatemala. Nearly half of the country's indigenous community, which is two thirds of the entire population, was killed in the relatively recent bloodshed. Most were children. Writer-director Bustamante wisely does not rub our faces in the genocide. The subject is handled obliquely. Through the general's wife, daughter and granddaughter the film reveals how the unresolved injustices haunt individuals and nation alike. Future generations are affected by the wounds the present generation ignores. Bustamante is the director of Ixcanul, another amazing film. The Weeping Woman won the best film prize at the Venice film festival and I saw it at the Toronto international film festival.