Takeaway: American public policy states that it’s better that ten guilty people go free than one innocent go to prison. Not for some lofty ethical standard, but because an innocent is temperamentally unequipped to cope with being surrounded by hardened criminals. The damage to the innocent would be incalculable. And where the drug trade rages rampant, such an innocent is usually not a suspect undergoing due process of law, but rather simply the person on Main Street living out their day. Miss Bala makes this salient point with iron fist, illustrating the desperately precarious nature of life in a country dominated by organized crime. About how capriciously one can utterly lose control of one’s life when nothing stands between the powerful and the ordinary individual … about how easily one can become a tool, completely subsumed by that element, no longer oneself ... about making decisions to try to turn certain death into a fighting chance to live. About how such a war zone offers no succor of purpose or nobility, promises no end in sight. Miss Bala: eminently worth one’s time, truly sobering. And leaving us with as many questions as awarenesses, not the least of which being, “How on earth do we as a community ~ of people, of nations ~ address such a thing?” Of course the politicians and pundits would love to sit us down and tell us the so-called answer to that. But better, Miss Bala gives us a foundation to begin discerning the answers for ourselves. Superbly performed, fabulously directed, official Academy Award entry for Best Foreign Language Film, Mexico. (PS ~ If you don’t happen to know what “bala” means in English, see the film and then look it up.)
Story: A young woman pursuing a dream of becoming a beauty queen finds herself at the wrong place at the wrong time and swept involuntarily into the machinations of a powerful Mexican drug gang.
Genre: Drama, Suspense/Thriller
Starring: Stephanie Sigman, Noe Hernandez, Jose Yenque, James Russo
Directed by: Gerardo Naranjo
See it if: You enjoy (so to speak, you get my meaning) pieces that elevate your awareness about the larger world around you ~ about its peoples, conditions, and realities ~ via fictionalized narrative vs. newscasts or magazine articles. That lend insight into what drives what we see on the news, and if we’re fortunate, ideas as to how we ourselves might make the world a better place. Think American History X.
Skip it if: You use movies as your escape from such realities. This one won’t help you there, sorry…
MPAA: R
Running time: 113 minutes
Official site: http://missbala.com
Houston release date: January 27, 2012
Tickets: Check Fandango.com or your local listings
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