Review of the Film: “The Virgin of Juarez,” 2006, Directed by Kevin James Dobson, Starring Minnie Driver, Angus Macfayden, Esai Morales, and Jacob Vargas.
Women Still Being Killed in Juarez
This film, starring Minnie Driver (British using an American accent) and Angus Macfayden (Scottish using a Mexican accent) shows the story of Mariela, a fictional character who is assaulted and then buried, and then who rises and takes on the stigmata to her palms. The movie is based on factual events--but adds a level of fiction for the viewer to consider.
The movie includes Esai Morales and Jacob Vargas—speaking in Spanish—as a priest and a police officer. The strong points made are that the local police are overwhelmed by the high number of murders and that they have almost no resources whatsoever to be able to investigate or stop the killings.
The Driver character is a Los Angeles-based reporter who is assigned to cover the story of the femicides occurring in and near Juarez, Mexico. Mariela becomes the Mexican female factory worker Everyman who is used to publicize the murders—and to other ends.
The film met with a great deal of criticism, apparently, with reviewers stating the first half of the movie works hard on the murders, their possible causes, and the attempts to investigate them. Reviewers object, however, to the second half of the movie “degenerating” down into a fantastic (in the bad sense) fictional “Joan of Arc” scenario, according to one opinion.
Information on the reviews, actors, and production are available at: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0418294/
Some important things to consider in the film is that there have been hundreds, in fact thousands, of murders—and that the investigations of them have not kept pace with the killing. Nor has it been possible to stop the murders from occurring.
The murder of women in this region of Mexico is factual. There are a variety of reasons and rumors revolving around the murder of these women who have left their homes and gone to Juarez for the great opportunity of making decent wages and helping support their families. The reasons for the murders are varied, and there are many different opinions.
When the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) was signed, this opened a door to the establishment of huge factories for women to work in along the border between the US and Mexico. Investors saw a great deal before them: open factories in Mexico with reduced requirements and laws, pay what be very low wages in the US, but wages which represented great wealth in Mexico.
The signing of NAFTA created a big change in the economy of the area—with US companies opening factories in which Mexican women even from far-away villages could come to and make much more money than they could at home. This impacted and still impacts the family structures, with men now disenfranchised from control over their women and families… and women now able to escape dominance, help provide for their families, and even have money left over to buy themselves all manner of goods and clothing they would have never had without the new factories.
Along with this progress and wealth have come murders—into the thousands now—of women in and near Juarez. Maybe because men resent them, but also because men have been able to get away with it, the murder of these women is known about far and wide.
There is even a center now—building and staff in place—to investigate specifically the death of women in the region.
Crosses showing the names of murdered women in Juarez.
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Have the murders continued?
A recent article by Julian Resendiz states that the murders of women and young girls have not stopped. "But for all the press the femicides have garnered in the past, the fact is that more women than ever are being murdered in Juarez. The city has recorded 491 homicides where women were the victims in the past three years alone" (“Juarez reports nearly 500 women killed in last three years,” by Julian Resendiz, Border Report News from KXAN News, CBS affiliate, Austin, TX, August 31, 2021: https://www.kxan.com/border-report/juarez-reports-nearly-500-women-murdered-in-past-3-years/).
In addition to the murders of women, there have been killings of men. Some rumors indicate drugs are involved in the deaths of men, and even in some of the deaths of women. (“Juarez reports nearly 500 women killed in last three years,” by Julian Resendiz, Border Report News from KXAN News, CBS affiliate, Austin, TX, August 31, 2021: https://www.kxan.com/border-report/juarez-reports-nearly-500-women-murdered-in-past-3-years/).
NAFTA, drugs, greed, revenge, lust, and money. All have contributed to the 4,000 or 5,000 deaths—some still to be discovered most likely—in Juarez with its booming and illegal and life-altering economy.
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Note: A second film in 2006 on this same topic, called “Bordertown” and starring Antonio Banderas, Jennifer Lopez, and Martin Sheen, shows other perspectives on the murders and their investigation (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0445935/?ref_=tt_trv_trv).