Miss Bala

Miss Bala is a strange movie, not in an avant-garde sense, but more in a huh? sense. Written and directed by Gerardo Nanjano, this 2011 Mexican film is suggested by actual events, but has such a convoluted plot and inexplicable character decisions that I had a hard time getting through it.

Stephanie Sigman plays Laura, a poor girl from Tijuana, who along with a friend tries out for the Miss Baja California beauty pageant (I'm not sure why the film is called Miss Bala, and not Miss Baja--I'm sure that's a language nicety understood in Mexico). To celebrate, the two girls go to a club, but it is attacked by criminals. The friend goes missing, and Laura makes the mistake of asking a policeman for help. He promptly turns her over to the crooks.

The criminal leader (Noe Hernandez) has a soft spot for Laura. Instead of just killing her as a potential witness, he starts using her in various criminal enterprises. He also gets her back in the pageant. But Laura runs away a few times, and after their empire is severely cut down by law enforcement, Hernandez takes Laura hostage.

The biggest problem with this film is the blank performance by Sigman. I can certainly understand that she would be terrified most of the time, but the actress reveals nothing of what she is thinking, instead looking stunned almost all of the time. I suppose there is a Stockholm Syndrome at work--Hernandez lets her family go, so there is nothing holding her to him except a psychological chain, but this is weakly explored. Hernandez is not particularly handsome or charismatic. It's only when Laura understands what he did to her friend that she tries to turn him in, but it's too late.

Nanjaro's direction is frequently interesting, and he favors tight close ups. For instance, during a gun battle the camera stays on Laura in the front seat of a car, bullets flying all around. This technique makes the viewer feel like a voyeur, which lends more immediacy to the narrative, but it didn't save this movie for me. Thumbs down.