Ana and her friends live in a Mexican village menaced by gangs and people traffickers in this complex and subtle story
Tatiana Huezo’s film, adapted from the 2012 novel by Jennifer Clement, was Mexico’s official submission for the Oscars: a complex, subtle, tender and heart-rending story of a young girl’s upbringing in a village menaced by the drug cartels and people traffickers.
Ana (Ana Cristina Ordóñez González) is a kid whose careworn mum Rita (Mayra Batalla) tells her to cut her hair short and pretend to be a boy – because the gangsters like to take young girls away for reasons she needn’t explain. One girl nearby has already been taken away, her parents gone, too, and her abandoned home is eerily empty, with toys and clothes strewn all over the floor. Rita even shows Ana the shallow grave with branches over it in the back yard she...
Tatiana Huezo’s film, adapted from the 2012 novel by Jennifer Clement, was Mexico’s official submission for the Oscars: a complex, subtle, tender and heart-rending story of a young girl’s upbringing in a village menaced by the drug cartels and people traffickers.
Ana (Ana Cristina Ordóñez González) is a kid whose careworn mum Rita (Mayra Batalla) tells her to cut her hair short and pretend to be a boy – because the gangsters like to take young girls away for reasons she needn’t explain. One girl nearby has already been taken away, her parents gone, too, and her abandoned home is eerily empty, with toys and clothes strewn all over the floor. Rita even shows Ana the shallow grave with branches over it in the back yard she...
- 4/6/2022
- by Peter Bradshaw
- The Guardian - Film News
Young girls hide from drug cartels in Prayers For The Stolen, Mexico’s powerful entry to the International Feature Oscar race. Directed by Tatiana Huezo and loosely based on Jennifer Clement’s novel, the film, which screens at AFI Fest on November 14 and releases theatrically and on Netflix in the U.S. and select regions on November 17, centers on three girls living in a remote mountaintop. Rich in atmosphere, it captures the sights and sounds of their daily lives, balancing the charming details of their childhood bonding with the terrible impact of the drug trade on their community.
Eight-year-old Ana (Ana Cristina Ordóñez González) plays with her friends Paula (Camila Gaal) and Maria (Blanca Itzel Pérez) while their mothers work in the poppy fields, bleeding the bulbs for opium. The children still have a carefree air; but their mothers rarely smile. Ana’s mother Rita (Mayra Batalla) is constantly on guard,...
Eight-year-old Ana (Ana Cristina Ordóñez González) plays with her friends Paula (Camila Gaal) and Maria (Blanca Itzel Pérez) while their mothers work in the poppy fields, bleeding the bulbs for opium. The children still have a carefree air; but their mothers rarely smile. Ana’s mother Rita (Mayra Batalla) is constantly on guard,...
- 11/12/2021
- by Anna Smith
- Deadline Film + TV
Prayers for the Stolen Review: Mexico’s Oscar Entry Brings a Profound Duality to Slice of Life Drama
Everything that happens in the small town at the center of documentarian Tatiana Huezo’s fiction debut Prayers for the Stolen runs through the Mexican drug cartel. The men have all but left to find work elsewhere, sending money to pay off collectors. The women work in the poppy fields, scratching opium bulbs to pay bills and earn a semblance of “protection” by being useful to the cause. And the soldiers stationed there act tough with guns as a superficial deterrent while cowering down in hopes of not getting shot whenever caravans of gangsters drive through. None of it truly matters, though. The cartel still comes at night to drop dead bodies and steal away young girls simply because they can. Everyone fears they’ll be next.
Based on the novel by Jennifer Clement, Huezo’s film focuses on young Ana’s (Ana Cristina Ordóñez as a pre-teen and González...
Based on the novel by Jennifer Clement, Huezo’s film focuses on young Ana’s (Ana Cristina Ordóñez as a pre-teen and González...
- 11/9/2021
- by Jared Mobarak
- The Film Stage
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