Latest / Stuff Mom Never Told You / Feminist Movie Friday: Tigers Are Not Afraid

Transcript

Feminist Movie Friday: Tigers Are Not Afraid · Stuff Mom Never Told You

0:05
Speaker 1: Hey, this is Annie and Samantha. I'm welcome to Stephane
0:07
Speaker 1: never told you Protection of I Heart Radio. And today
0:19
Speaker 1: we have a feminist movie Friday that we have been
0:22
Speaker 1: hinting at for a while. Yeah, yeah, because we wanted
0:28
Speaker 1: to do something for Hispanic Carritage Month, but also a
0:32
Speaker 1: horror movie. And so there were like four options. Is like, Samantha,
0:37
Speaker 1: pick one. You said you just sent me this option.
0:40
Speaker 1: I would like I could bring up the email right
0:43
Speaker 1: there for Okay, I want to well, clearly there's some
0:50
Speaker 1: tension because she was very mad at me about this.
0:55
Speaker 1: So if you want to give your your little content
0:57
Speaker 1: warning before we get into yes, I will let me
1:00
Speaker 1: go ahead because I was like, let me do this
1:02
Speaker 1: for you, because I feel like the audience members need
1:05
Speaker 1: to know that there's a huge content warning that I
1:09
Speaker 1: was not given. And me, trying to finally be ahead
1:14
Speaker 1: on the job, went ahead and watched this movie. And
1:18
Speaker 1: as I'm watching, I realized I've been tricked in so
1:23
Speaker 1: many ways because there is a lot of violence, which
1:26
Speaker 1: I it's not expected for a horror movie. Definitely, like yes,
1:30
Speaker 1: absolutely probably death, Yes, probably murder. Yeah, we know ghosts
1:35
Speaker 1: and things are really mean things. Who like to possess people.
1:39
Speaker 1: But no, this is not your typical because there's also
1:41
Speaker 1: some a lot of child engagement, child estrangement uh being orphaned,
1:48
Speaker 1: as well as child murder, which I was not prepared for.
1:53
Speaker 1: And when these happened, I was like, what the hell
1:55
Speaker 1: have you done? Any And then I need some spoilers,
1:59
Speaker 1: and I did get some spoilers, and yes, obviously another warning,
2:03
Speaker 1: this is gonna have spoilers. But if that's something up
2:05
Speaker 1: your alley, go for it. I guess no, I'm just kidding,
2:09
Speaker 1: because this movie is definitely a great movie. It's well
2:12
Speaker 1: made and the filmmaker did a great job. But it's
2:17
Speaker 1: definitely something like if you like The Wire as the show,
2:21
Speaker 1: which is how I kind of prepared it and pans Labyrinth, UH,
2:25
Speaker 1: then you will like this, but just expect trauma to
2:29
Speaker 1: linger for yourself. If you're a social worker who has
2:31
Speaker 1: worked with children, you may not want to watch this
2:35
Speaker 1: because this is where I was. I was like, what
2:37
Speaker 1: the hell is happening? We're beefing, and we're beefing, like
2:42
Speaker 1: I think that's how I ended my text with you.
2:45
Speaker 1: It was like a biefing at this point because there's
2:47
Speaker 1: a lot of that, I was like not ready for
2:50
Speaker 1: let should have I should have it. Let's just be honest.
2:53
Speaker 1: I should have been a little more prepared. And I'm
2:56
Speaker 1: saying this while rubbing my face, but I still wasn't
3:02
Speaker 1: and I had to remember, like, oh, yeah, reality sucks
3:05
Speaker 1: and this is definitely one of those like, hey, this
3:07
Speaker 1: is some tragic things that does occur and we need
3:10
Speaker 1: to acknowledge it. But for me, I'm like I lived
3:12
Speaker 1: some of the not in Mexico obviously, but like losing
3:15
Speaker 1: children to a lot of violence as a social worker,
3:18
Speaker 1: definitely been there. And so I was like, well, my
3:22
Speaker 1: two days are wound because I know it's going to
3:24
Speaker 1: ruminate in my head. But it was a good horror movie.
3:28
Speaker 1: It was an awful, traumatizing movie though. That's how I'm
3:31
Speaker 1: going to put it. So there's a content warning. Yeah,
3:35
Speaker 1: we haven't even said the name of the movie yet. Yeah,
3:37
Speaker 1: it's pretty intense. And I was talking about this with
3:40
Speaker 1: friend and co worker Lauren voc Obam because she suggested
3:45
Speaker 1: a horror movie for the show's savor where we do
3:47
Speaker 1: fictional foods, and she suggested Pan's Labyrinth, and I just
3:50
Speaker 1: got to thinking about it. I was like, all the
3:52
Speaker 1: movies that I'm thinking of, that our horror movies that
3:55
Speaker 1: are Mexican or Spanish, do you involve quite a lot
3:58
Speaker 1: of this kind of child in danger ment, like reality
4:02
Speaker 1: of you know, the Spanish Civil War or whatever it is. Yeah, pretentents, yes, yes, yes, yes,
4:12
Speaker 1: And in fairness to me, I hadn't seen it yet,
4:15
Speaker 1: I didn't know, and you, for once in your life,
4:18
Speaker 1: did not procrastinate. I did not. Actually, when I was
4:21
Speaker 1: like I didn't know, I couldn't remember our schedules, like
4:23
Speaker 1: I'm gonna go ahead and watch it, let's do this,
4:26
Speaker 1: And then I was like, what the did I just watch? Yeah?
4:31
Speaker 1: Well anyway, so yeah, we're gonna be talking about that
4:37
Speaker 1: stuff all that in the content morning the movie we
4:40
Speaker 1: are talking about. Let us finally say. The title is
4:43
Speaker 1: called Tigers Are Not Afraid. It's the English title for
4:46
Speaker 1: the Mexican seventeen crime fantasy horror film Velven, which translates
4:52
Speaker 1: to They Return, and it's written in directed by Lopez.
4:56
Speaker 1: It starts Paolo Lara, Juan Ramon Lopez, Janice Guero. Oh,
5:01
Speaker 1: my Spanish accent is so bad. I'm so sorry. Um,
5:03
Speaker 1: Rodrigo Cortez, Hansel Cascius neddi Arnandando and Tina Gquerte um
5:09
Speaker 1: and yeah, it is highly acclaimed. It received praise from
5:12
Speaker 1: horror icons like Stephen King, Neil Gaiman, Gambro del Toro.
5:16
Speaker 1: Of course, Gambo del Toro is gonna love this movie,
5:19
Speaker 1: so of course he is. Yes, it's um a dark
5:24
Speaker 1: fairy tale with magical elements um while also a very
5:29
Speaker 1: serious examination of the horrific impact of drug wars, human
5:33
Speaker 1: trafficking and violence in Mexico. Um. It's essentially a three
5:37
Speaker 1: wishes gone wrong story with a lot more going on.
5:40
Speaker 1: All right, this is just to me that the monkey's
5:41
Speaker 1: paw like that, That's what I imagine this after we finished,
5:44
Speaker 1: like this is a retelling of Monkey's Paw, Monkey Paw
5:48
Speaker 1: in Mexico with children. Yes, yes, yes, chess um and
5:54
Speaker 1: we have a lot of quotes from Lopez and this
5:56
Speaker 1: one because she has a lot of really great quotes,
5:58
Speaker 1: we want to start with this one about being a
6:00
Speaker 1: woman in the horror genre, especially since this movie happened
6:03
Speaker 1: around when Me Too was really taking off in seventeen quote.
6:09
Speaker 1: I've been in so many conversations about genre and gender.
6:12
Speaker 1: It's really interesting because in Spanish, the word for both
6:15
Speaker 1: things is the same, is hey naro? Um? And here's
6:18
Speaker 1: the deal. I don't believe neither in genre nor in gender.
6:21
Speaker 1: I believe in the stories that need to be told.
6:23
Speaker 1: And I'm telling you we need to start telling stories
6:25
Speaker 1: from a different point of view, if for nothing else
6:28
Speaker 1: for the sake of not getting bored. You know, we
6:30
Speaker 1: need to hear a new voice and new take. And
6:32
Speaker 1: the fact that women in LGBTQ community are standing up
6:35
Speaker 1: and taking the stage is allowing the world to hear
6:37
Speaker 1: different stories and different voices, and that is priceless. Yeah yeah, um,
6:44
Speaker 1: And yeah, this definitely is a different perspective having the
6:46
Speaker 1: perspective just straight from the kids, because typically these types
6:49
Speaker 1: of movies, uh you see it from the mother's perspective,
6:53
Speaker 1: especially when it comes to like dreading whatever is happening
6:56
Speaker 1: to your child, or trying to protect your child or
6:58
Speaker 1: trying to get for the child, is usually from the
7:02
Speaker 1: mother or parent perspective. So it was interesting to have
7:04
Speaker 1: it from straight from a child perspective. Yeah, yeah, um,
7:09
Speaker 1: And we're going to talk about that more in the themes. Okay,
7:26
Speaker 1: here's the plot. The story follows a young girl who
7:28
Speaker 1: lives in a city rocked by the Mexican drug war
7:31
Speaker 1: named a Stadia. After gunfire breaks out while she's in
7:34
Speaker 1: school working on a fairytale assignment, classes are suspended and
7:38
Speaker 1: as teacher hands her three pieces of chalk and tells
7:41
Speaker 1: her they will grant her three wishes. Meanwhile, an orphan
7:46
Speaker 1: named Shine who wears a tiger mask, sometimes manages to
7:50
Speaker 1: steal a gun and an iPhone from a henchman of
7:53
Speaker 1: a powerful local crime boss, drug lord, and human trafficker
7:56
Speaker 1: named Chino, who also happens to be a politician. Line
8:00
Speaker 1: attempts to shoot the hinchman, but because the hinchman doesn't
8:03
Speaker 1: know he's there, he's kind of drunk but can't or
8:06
Speaker 1: won't pull the trigger. You're not sure at this exact juncture, right. So,
8:11
Speaker 1: on her walk home, Australia comes across a dead body
8:15
Speaker 1: as she tries to avoid it, leaking with blood that
8:18
Speaker 1: follows her to her home. When she arrives, Australia's mother
8:23
Speaker 1: is missing. Australia suspects the disappearance is the work of Sheos,
8:27
Speaker 1: human trafficking, ring and or drug related violence, which happens
8:31
Speaker 1: a lot around that area. Desperate, alone and starving, Australia
8:35
Speaker 1: wishes that her mother would come back, and soon Natural
8:38
Speaker 1: begins experiencing haunting visions of her mother, ghostly and demanding
8:43
Speaker 1: that she bringing him to us quote unquote and yeah,
8:46
Speaker 1: she's obviously dead in the Ghosts of You, So it's
8:49
Speaker 1: kind of that again the monkey Pall where it's not
8:51
Speaker 1: the person that comes back corpse um So. One night,
8:56
Speaker 1: not long after, Australia catches Shine robbing her house and
9:00
Speaker 1: follows him back to his hideout, where she meets a
9:02
Speaker 1: group of orphans named Pop to See and Morrow. Austraia
9:06
Speaker 1: stays with them, even though Shine rejects her and refuses
9:09
Speaker 1: to offer her any food. Later, Morrow is kidnapped after
9:13
Speaker 1: the henchman that Shines soul from comes looking for his
9:16
Speaker 1: missing iPhone and gun. Shine gives Australia the gun and
9:19
Speaker 1: tells her if she can kill the henchman she can
9:22
Speaker 1: stay with the group. Australia sneaks into the henchman's apartment,
9:25
Speaker 1: aiming the gun at him, but wishing she doesn't have
9:28
Speaker 1: to kill him, and presto, she realizes he's already dead,
9:31
Speaker 1: she doesn't have to do it. She frees Motto and
9:34
Speaker 1: returns to the group, telling them that she kills the
9:36
Speaker 1: henchman and then she is allowed to stay. Right. Also
9:40
Speaker 1: just a note because I'm we're gonna talk about this
9:42
Speaker 1: in later that Shine tells Australia she can't stay because
9:47
Speaker 1: she's a woman and women of bad luck, so and
9:50
Speaker 1: then blames everything on her. So that night, her mother
9:53
Speaker 1: visits her again, warning her the band who actually murdered
9:57
Speaker 1: the Henchman is looking for her and that Australia needs
9:59
Speaker 1: to bring that man to her. When he comes, the
10:03
Speaker 1: children confront a rival gain, whose leader marks Shine for
10:07
Speaker 1: getting Australia to do his dirty work. Australia later discovers
10:11
Speaker 1: a weeping Shine, who was distraught that he couldn't be
10:13
Speaker 1: the one to kill the henchman, and he admits that
10:15
Speaker 1: he keeps a phone because it has a picture of
10:17
Speaker 1: his missing mother, the only one he knows of. All
10:21
Speaker 1: his other family's photos were lost after Tino's Gain set
10:24
Speaker 1: his home on fire, leaving a scar on his face.
10:28
Speaker 1: Rival gang leader that mocked Shine tells the Hinchman's brother
10:31
Speaker 1: Teo about Australia, and he calls the kids via the
10:35
Speaker 1: Hinchman's phone to threaten them. Shine shares more with Austraia
10:40
Speaker 1: about his own mother and ask Australia if she would
10:43
Speaker 1: use her final wish to erase his facial burn scars.
10:46
Speaker 1: Australia turns him down, concerned about the negative side effects
10:49
Speaker 1: that she's seeing that she feels her wishes have caused.
10:53
Speaker 1: As the other kids are putting on an imaginary talent show,
10:56
Speaker 1: TiO kidnaps Shine. Australia has another nightmarish vision from her
11:01
Speaker 1: mother and other murder victims before TiO captures her. To
11:05
Speaker 1: Morrow Um is able to He allows them to escape,
11:09
Speaker 1: shooting TiO, but TiO survives and shoots and kills Morrow
11:12
Speaker 1: in retaliation about killing the Morrow's when I got really
11:16
Speaker 1: upset and texted Danny like what's happening just so you know?
11:19
Speaker 1: And it came out and I was like, are you
11:21
Speaker 1: talking about It? Was a lot of explosives with what
11:25
Speaker 1: the hell? Annie? So I started with that. So Australia
11:29
Speaker 1: and Shine examined the phone trying to figure out what
11:32
Speaker 1: is on it and that is so important to recover.
11:35
Speaker 1: Obviously he really that's really wants it back. They find
11:38
Speaker 1: a video of Chino killing a woman in Australia convinces
11:41
Speaker 1: Shine to call Chino, who threatens them In turn, Australia
11:45
Speaker 1: is about to make a deal with him. They'll give
11:47
Speaker 1: him by phone if he eliminates the rest of this gang.
11:51
Speaker 1: Chino admits he was the one who actually killed the
11:53
Speaker 1: henchman because he wouldn't return the stolen phone that had
11:57
Speaker 1: the black Meatl video. Essentially, now knowing that Australia didn't
12:02
Speaker 1: actually killed Benchment, the children all shun her, including Shine Um,
12:07
Speaker 1: which by bt dubs she never actually says she kills him.
12:09
Speaker 1: She just says, uh. She says a lot of the
12:12
Speaker 1: lines of like I made a wish and that's all
12:15
Speaker 1: she said. So now omissious mission um. And she's chased
12:21
Speaker 1: by visions of her mother and the murder of victims,
12:24
Speaker 1: who again demand she bringing him to us. Um And
12:27
Speaker 1: one of the ghosts is now Morrow with the tiger
12:30
Speaker 1: bt dubs Um. He has a pet tiger, which is
12:33
Speaker 1: part of the folklore that they talk about throughout That
12:36
Speaker 1: is also Shine continues to do that painting all over
12:42
Speaker 1: with the tale that the fact that tigers are afraid,
12:44
Speaker 1: they just are Um. And Morrow has a tiger and
12:47
Speaker 1: it comes to life and why and just why um Yeah. So,
12:51
Speaker 1: but Morrow tells her to find the group Meanwhile, Pop
12:55
Speaker 1: and Tuci steal the phone from Shine show the murder
12:58
Speaker 1: footage to two cops, thinking they're gonna fix it. The
13:01
Speaker 1: cops dismiss it and realize even though they this is
13:04
Speaker 1: Chino and just pretty much to run away like by
13:06
Speaker 1: driving away from the kids like Helena. Shine recovers the
13:10
Speaker 1: phone from them and realizes the bracelet on the murder
13:12
Speaker 1: victim and the video matches one that Australia's mother wore
13:16
Speaker 1: in a picture Heat found, which at the beginning, we
13:20
Speaker 1: see Australia talking to her mom about the bracelet and
13:23
Speaker 1: asking when she can have it, and so she's like, what,
13:25
Speaker 1: I'm dead, So that's super super ominous. Australia arrives and
13:29
Speaker 1: warns them that if they don't leave, Chino will find
13:31
Speaker 1: and murder them. They Burymorrow and go to abandoned buildings
13:35
Speaker 1: to meet up with Chino, TiO and another hinchman. Shine
13:38
Speaker 1: hands over a phone, swearing he doesn't know the password.
13:41
Speaker 1: Chino destroys it and kills Teo and the other henchman,
13:45
Speaker 1: telling Australia he's gonna keep he kept his word, and
13:48
Speaker 1: Pop into see Lee the scene. Yes, Australia recognizes the
13:53
Speaker 1: building and refuses to leave until she finds her mother.
13:56
Speaker 1: Shine reveals to her that he gave Chino a decoy
13:59
Speaker 1: phone and that the woman in the video was her mother.
14:03
Speaker 1: Though he tells Australia wishes aren't real, she still talks
14:06
Speaker 1: his face to grant him his wish that his scars disappear. Abruptly,
14:11
Speaker 1: Chino appears and shoots Shine. After figuring out he's been tricked,
14:15
Speaker 1: Chino chases Australia, who follows Morto's tiger doll down a
14:19
Speaker 1: shaft that opens up into a pit of bodies, including
14:22
Speaker 1: Australia's mother. Her mom's dead body briefly reanimates, passing off
14:26
Speaker 1: her bracelet to Australia as they emotionally reunite using the phone,
14:31
Speaker 1: chos So desperately wants Australia lures him into the room
14:34
Speaker 1: filled with bodies, and the ghost can be heard killing Chino.
14:38
Speaker 1: Um Later, Australia runs into Shin's ghost and then to
14:41
Speaker 1: say goodbye, he lights the room of bodies on fire,
14:45
Speaker 1: and as she leaves, Australia runs into a tiger that
14:48
Speaker 1: escaped the zoo. Right yeah, oh yeah. And one of
14:52
Speaker 1: the big things that I did love about this movie
14:55
Speaker 1: is the work of animation within the movie, so you
14:58
Speaker 1: have a lot of again kind of like the Pains
15:01
Speaker 1: Labyrinth level of imagination that you have with children, um,
15:06
Speaker 1: which I guess yes, Pains Labbreath has that a child
15:09
Speaker 1: perspective as well, UM, but it works perfectly into them
15:13
Speaker 1: trying to be grown at the same time still being children.
15:16
Speaker 1: So it was interesting to see, especially with like Morrow's
15:19
Speaker 1: character which I'm still devastated by um and his stuffed
15:23
Speaker 1: tiger when he when he's the ghost, he speaks for
15:27
Speaker 1: the first time, but the tiger also comes to life
15:30
Speaker 1: and assists throughout the theme as well. But it was interesting.
15:33
Speaker 1: I did think that that was a beautiful and I
15:36
Speaker 1: hate it. Yes, it was a beautiful Yes, Yeah, the
15:39
Speaker 1: animation is really really beautiful. So essentially, like for instance,
15:43
Speaker 1: when Shine is painting the tigers on the wall, they'll
15:47
Speaker 1: move um and it's really really cool to see. So
15:54
Speaker 1: semes wise, I think one of the big ones in
15:57
Speaker 1: this is searching for the ghost of parents are just
16:02
Speaker 1: kind of that. We talked about that before, how in
16:04
Speaker 1: horror movies that grief or loss is often used as
16:07
Speaker 1: sort of like a ghost, and in this movie it
16:11
Speaker 1: was particularly Yes, right. I mean part of that also
16:16
Speaker 1: has to do with the fact that she didn't know
16:17
Speaker 1: exactly what happened to her mom. Right, there was still
16:20
Speaker 1: that feint of hope that perhaps she'll come back, and
16:23
Speaker 1: then like for the first two days she really believed
16:25
Speaker 1: maybe she would and she was just gone. She was
16:28
Speaker 1: in denial about it. And then as she realized, Okay,
16:30
Speaker 1: this is not happening, she's gone gone. Um and to
16:33
Speaker 1: the point that Shane has to scream in her face
16:35
Speaker 1: she's dead. She's dead. Like that's pretty much the level level.
16:38
Speaker 1: But like, yeah, when you have an uncertainty, they just disappear. Yeah,
16:43
Speaker 1: you're kind of haunted by what is there. But there
16:45
Speaker 1: was that level, but also that haunting trying to know
16:48
Speaker 1: the truth is even worse. So seemingly no for sure
16:53
Speaker 1: because when I was watching it, I was like, maybe
16:56
Speaker 1: she's still alive, maybe not, I don't know. And then
16:58
Speaker 1: when she made the wish and she came back like
17:01
Speaker 1: a pretty obviously a ghost who has been through some things. Um,
17:06
Speaker 1: I'm like, oh, okay, she's not coming back. Yeah yeah, um.
17:12
Speaker 1: And I want to include this quote because Lopez has
17:15
Speaker 1: talked about this. Um. So Lopez says there's a universal
17:20
Speaker 1: fascination with the figure of the drug lord and with
17:22
Speaker 1: the cartels, and a certain type of romance even which
17:25
Speaker 1: is terrible, that has emerged from it. But nobody is
17:27
Speaker 1: talking about the children that left to their own devices
17:29
Speaker 1: because their parents have been taken, their parents were sometimes killed.
17:33
Speaker 1: Nobody is addressing this as the proper war is. And
17:35
Speaker 1: I felt that we needed that story. Someone needed to
17:38
Speaker 1: do it. Yeah. Yeah, so, as you said, it was
17:42
Speaker 1: really seeing it from the children's perspective, it was clearly
17:48
Speaker 1: very powerful. Yeah, very clearly very powerful. But yeah, know
17:54
Speaker 1: that that the fact that there's so many sets of
17:56
Speaker 1: children without supervision and it just seemed like a norm
18:00
Speaker 1: to people that that that that was. And again, all
18:03
Speaker 1: of this is definitely something that I I'm not really
18:06
Speaker 1: I know that it's prevalent, the drug cartel is a thing,
18:10
Speaker 1: and also like the the effects of it, but I
18:13
Speaker 1: don't know much about the left behind because there's so
18:16
Speaker 1: many things that has been romanticized or fantasized or like
18:19
Speaker 1: put into these levels of over the top caricatures of
18:24
Speaker 1: what is happening. So the reality is what is happening,
18:27
Speaker 1: what is there? Who is going to talk about it?
18:29
Speaker 1: And yeah, people are not invested in it. They don't
18:32
Speaker 1: know much and unfortunately that's these are things that we
18:34
Speaker 1: should know about. And as much as I hate this movie,
18:37
Speaker 1: it does bring a lot to that in realizing there's
18:41
Speaker 1: a lot to be said about what is happening in
18:44
Speaker 1: those countries, in the specific areas. And these are very
18:48
Speaker 1: specific areas because we know it's not all of Mexico
18:51
Speaker 1: and that this is what it looks at, um, and
18:55
Speaker 1: who's being displaced and that's that big conversation is who
18:59
Speaker 1: is actually helping? Are we helping? And then you know,
19:01
Speaker 1: what does it look like? So it's definitely a new
19:03
Speaker 1: perspective for me as well. Yeah, and and as you said,
19:08
Speaker 1: like the touches of those like childish imagination or here's
19:12
Speaker 1: this stuff all really kind of grounds you in like
19:15
Speaker 1: these are kids in this situation. And like I said,
19:19
Speaker 1: Lopez is a lot of amazing quotes, um, and a
19:22
Speaker 1: lot if you want to dig deeper into the inspiration
19:27
Speaker 1: behind this, UM, there's a lot of quotes about wanting
19:30
Speaker 1: to be true two both being a child, but also
19:36
Speaker 1: like war torn areas and what that experience is like. UM,
19:41
Speaker 1: So definitely go look that up if you want to
19:45
Speaker 1: get more context around this um. She's also spoken about
19:48
Speaker 1: how losing her own mom influenced her quote, my mom
19:52
Speaker 1: died of natural causes, but it was very unexpected and sudden,
19:55
Speaker 1: and many many times you don't realize that you're dragging
19:57
Speaker 1: a ghost behind you. So that's sort of like what
20:00
Speaker 1: I was saying of the kind of ghost of Greek
20:02
Speaker 1: for the ghosts of memories where you feel like you
20:04
Speaker 1: see somebody everywhere because they were everywhere in your life
20:09
Speaker 1: for for so long, or you have so many memories
20:11
Speaker 1: with them, or whatever is um. So I felt like
20:14
Speaker 1: it was a very also true to that that experience
20:17
Speaker 1: as well, and also that, yeah, that, as we've talked
20:20
Speaker 1: about before, when when you lose somebody and it just
20:24
Speaker 1: feels like such a jarring, unexpected and sudden and like
20:31
Speaker 1: your whole world has just changed, right, And she did
20:34
Speaker 1: a great job in showing that when, like though we
20:36
Speaker 1: didn't know exactly what was happening. In the movie, she
20:40
Speaker 1: has the memory of the child talking to the mom
20:42
Speaker 1: and how good relationship they had and she assumed it
20:45
Speaker 1: would be forever, but you know, just not thinking what
20:48
Speaker 1: was going to happen. Coming home had an ominous beginning
20:51
Speaker 1: with the school being completely shut down because of the violence,
20:55
Speaker 1: and then her coming home and just being empty, and
20:58
Speaker 1: so they did a good job, like no lights would
21:00
Speaker 1: be on the like she would be in the shadows
21:03
Speaker 1: in the daytime, empty home, Like it was very apparent
21:07
Speaker 1: that she was in an empty house except for the
21:10
Speaker 1: ghosts um And I think, like this next quote is
21:14
Speaker 1: really great because i'd say, this is why I hate
21:16
Speaker 1: this movie's because it's too based in reality. But you know,
21:19
Speaker 1: she says in another quote, you make a movie of
21:22
Speaker 1: a genre that makes it easier. And the interesting phenomenon
21:25
Speaker 1: was that it worked around the world. And I think
21:27
Speaker 1: it's important to understand what are the true horrors that
21:30
Speaker 1: these children are facing, especially when two years after the
21:33
Speaker 1: movie opened at a festival for the first time, we
21:36
Speaker 1: find ourselves in a version of the United States where
21:39
Speaker 1: children crossing the border to survive the drug war are
21:43
Speaker 1: being put in cages. So it's particularly urgent and if
21:47
Speaker 1: horror is going to be the way to deliver this message, fantastic,
21:50
Speaker 1: let's go with it. And yeah, she did it, And
21:52
Speaker 1: like I said, I think this is why movie like
21:54
Speaker 1: this upset me to this degree. Being in a field
21:59
Speaker 1: that I not that you can't. People who hopefully have
22:02
Speaker 1: a heart will understand this is more than just a genre, um,
22:07
Speaker 1: but coming into knowing the realities that this exists, coming
22:10
Speaker 1: into knowing working with children and losing children because they're
22:15
Speaker 1: caught up in a lifestyle that they think they're surviving
22:18
Speaker 1: in or trying to survive by, and then get swept away,
22:22
Speaker 1: essentially have forgotten because that's what happened, unfortunately, with the systems,
22:26
Speaker 1: with kids who are already placed in society as expendable.
22:30
Speaker 1: And I say this, and this is what I've seen
22:32
Speaker 1: in the system, and this is what broke me. It
22:34
Speaker 1: broke me all um that movies like this is a
22:37
Speaker 1: reminder of that. And that's what she's doing. And I
22:39
Speaker 1: love that. I love that she's doing it. I still
22:42
Speaker 1: hate it, though, I think there could be a game
22:49
Speaker 1: to this one of all, if you're like a little
22:52
Speaker 1: everybody's bringing every time I say those words throughout the
23:11
Speaker 1: themes of like drugs, the impact of drugs and violence,
23:14
Speaker 1: and all of the trauma left in the wake of that.
23:19
Speaker 1: The death of the mother obviously hangs over all of
23:21
Speaker 1: this too, but trauma for sure, because for instance, that
23:25
Speaker 1: blood we didn't really talk about this too much. But
23:27
Speaker 1: when the blood follows her home, it's like a trail
23:30
Speaker 1: that follows her, and I thought that was pretty symbolic
23:34
Speaker 1: of you know, this trauma that follows you and you
23:36
Speaker 1: can't it's just always there. Um, So there's a lot
23:41
Speaker 1: I mean, oh gosh, we could unpack so much about that,
23:46
Speaker 1: you know, the trauma that's depicted in this in this movie,
23:50
Speaker 1: because it's pretty at the heart of it, right. Yeah.
23:54
Speaker 1: I think it was the same thing obviously as it
23:57
Speaker 1: begins with the story. And we know with any fairy tale,
24:02
Speaker 1: when you know the actual fairy tale, but the beginnings
24:05
Speaker 1: that you're like, oh, that is not a happy ending.
24:07
Speaker 1: This is not a good tale. This is all foreboding. Um.
24:11
Speaker 1: We know that's how they begin, including with the three
24:13
Speaker 1: wishes and the teacher teacher trying to you know, liven
24:17
Speaker 1: them up, and then they're all on the ground because
24:18
Speaker 1: of the shooting of cars and they're still talking about it,
24:21
Speaker 1: like the teacher tried to make a distraction, but in actuality,
24:27
Speaker 1: that blood, the tragedy, the violence still follows and you
24:29
Speaker 1: cannot escape it, which is for her. And we know
24:32
Speaker 1: we see this as a cycle, whether it is uh,
24:35
Speaker 1: something like that, or women who have been caught up
24:37
Speaker 1: in abuse, some women who have been caught up in violence.
24:40
Speaker 1: It's hard to escape. But whether it's something just being
24:43
Speaker 1: haunted by it or being revictimized, which happens often, and
24:46
Speaker 1: we've we've seen that, and we've had that conversation before,
24:49
Speaker 1: and that's that deeper level of like it's just following
24:54
Speaker 1: and it stays yeah, and kind of going into that,
25:01
Speaker 1: I wanted to include this one more quote from Lopez.
25:03
Speaker 1: It's a bit longer, but I think it explains a lot.
25:05
Speaker 1: As I was writing the first scenes, I created this
25:07
Speaker 1: image of a girl that has to leave school because
25:09
Speaker 1: there was a shootout right outside, and she sees a
25:11
Speaker 1: dead body, which happens frequently in war culture, and she
25:14
Speaker 1: watches it for a second and then turns around and
25:16
Speaker 1: walks away. And that's not something you can do with violence.
25:19
Speaker 1: You can't turn your back and walk away. It will
25:22
Speaker 1: come after you until you look at it and you
25:24
Speaker 1: understand what's going on. And as I'm writing that scene
25:27
Speaker 1: and she turns around from the pool of blood, a
25:29
Speaker 1: line of blood starts following her, and it became sort
25:31
Speaker 1: of the lame most chief of the movie how Death
25:33
Speaker 1: Will come with You, will walk with you until you
25:35
Speaker 1: accept and embrace the situation you were in. I think
25:38
Speaker 1: that it's the perfect for you to understand a broken universe.
25:40
Speaker 1: But also, I'm Mexican. I'm deeply Latin American, and the
25:44
Speaker 1: entire thing about Latin America is magical thinking and witchcraft
25:47
Speaker 1: and ghost and leading with our death. So it was
25:50
Speaker 1: just a matter of sitting down to write at the
25:51
Speaker 1: very beginning and not trying to pull the story in
25:53
Speaker 1: that direction, but simply getting out of the way for
25:56
Speaker 1: the story to tell itself. And she did that. Yeah,
25:58
Speaker 1: I still hate it. There you go another boe um.
26:03
Speaker 1: And then, as you mentioned, just to wrap up here,
26:07
Speaker 1: there were a lot of comments about Australia being a woman,
26:10
Speaker 1: a young girl in the situation, and and kind of
26:13
Speaker 1: women in general. There were there was things like she's
26:14
Speaker 1: a chick, chicks are bad block the whole idea of
26:17
Speaker 1: blaming her, like she's the reason these things went went wrong.
26:23
Speaker 1: There's things like your pink girly asked one of them, say,
26:26
Speaker 1: she's repeatedly called a slut and a bit, so that
26:30
Speaker 1: is there. It's definitely making a comment on her sexuality,
26:34
Speaker 1: like they're always bringing it up and always make it
26:36
Speaker 1: seem like, oh you're a bad book, or oh you're weaker,
26:39
Speaker 1: or we just don't want you around because you're no
26:43
Speaker 1: good And definitely a whole big part of her being
26:46
Speaker 1: the only girl, and she was kind of a mother
26:48
Speaker 1: figure too until she lost grace due to lying with
26:54
Speaker 1: her just admitting the truth. I'm still going to hold
26:56
Speaker 1: do that, but trying to find her own and of
26:59
Speaker 1: course it ends with an his ending because like she
27:02
Speaker 1: doesn't have anybody. The two people that really kind of
27:04
Speaker 1: welcomed her shine even though he didn't love it, um
27:09
Speaker 1: and then Morrow, and then of course the two others
27:11
Speaker 1: were like, you're a liar, get away from me, and
27:13
Speaker 1: you killed Morrow. Essentially it was really tragic. So she's
27:17
Speaker 1: again alone. Yeah, she's vindicated and maybe things will change
27:21
Speaker 1: because this politician is gone. Um, but who knows. It's
27:25
Speaker 1: just it was a lot. It was a lot, and
27:27
Speaker 1: yeah I hated it, Um, But would I recommend you
27:31
Speaker 1: watching it if you have the power to do so,
27:35
Speaker 1: go for it, because I will never watch this again anyway.
27:40
Speaker 1: Oh no, I feel like you've shrieked me a few gens.
27:48
Speaker 1: I am trying to you. I feel bad. I'm sorry.
27:51
Speaker 1: I I honestly was going to warn you, but you
27:55
Speaker 1: were being a star student and I tried to what
27:59
Speaker 1: I get it again, Oh no, I've ruined it. You'll
28:06
Speaker 1: never take any of my recommendations again. A little guard.
28:11
Speaker 1: But yes, I think we need to go back to
28:13
Speaker 1: there's so much to be said. We could have breaken
28:15
Speaker 1: each scene a part about the depth of it. She
28:17
Speaker 1: made this horror movie in order for you to understand
28:20
Speaker 1: the depth. But then she also made a movie where
28:23
Speaker 1: she still had a connection with her mother that was
28:26
Speaker 1: on a deeper level, even in her decomposing state. Um
28:30
Speaker 1: and then passing along a love and a passion or
28:33
Speaker 1: traditional or just her heritage with that bracelet. I think
28:37
Speaker 1: that was really important as well. Of course, that bracelet
28:40
Speaker 1: came to haunt her a little bit too, with the
28:43
Speaker 1: birds that kept haunting her um, which I'm sure there's
28:46
Speaker 1: an omen to that we know. I think they were crows,
28:49
Speaker 1: which has a lot of ominous behind it as well.
28:53
Speaker 1: And yeah, I like that she was the main character
28:56
Speaker 1: as Jaya, much like we were talking about with Pains,
28:58
Speaker 1: Leper has this main carecter her that's a girl going
29:01
Speaker 1: through her life and trying to just find a way
29:03
Speaker 1: to fit in and to survive. Um. And then also
29:08
Speaker 1: the play on and I don't know if she did
29:10
Speaker 1: I play on the monkey Paw. I'm sure there's more
29:14
Speaker 1: stories and legends that come through and in Mexico that
29:17
Speaker 1: has a linkage to that as well, because I know
29:19
Speaker 1: there's variations. Um, but it was it was a deep movie,
29:24
Speaker 1: beautifully filmed, tragically filmed. Uh. These actors were wonderful. These
29:31
Speaker 1: children were like just amazing and this is why it
29:35
Speaker 1: bothered me so much. They were too good at this. Also,
29:40
Speaker 1: all of this was tragic and again like her trying
29:43
Speaker 1: to fix shine space and then immediately he died, and
29:47
Speaker 1: you know, like what the once again? What the Annie?
29:53
Speaker 1: But yes, like even though I protest a lot, yes
29:58
Speaker 1: I hate it. It was a beauty full bobe. Still
30:01
Speaker 1: I'm very haunted by it. Yeah, that sticks with you,
30:05
Speaker 1: sticks with you? How dare you? I'm sorry? Well there
30:13
Speaker 1: you go with that. Um. We we do love getting
30:18
Speaker 1: recommendations from you listeners. You haven't burned that bridget for her,
30:21
Speaker 1: so yes, I will take your recommendation. You can send
30:28
Speaker 1: those two us at our emails. Stephanie a mom stuff
30:30
Speaker 1: at i heart media dot com. You can find us
30:32
Speaker 1: on Twitter at mom Stuff Podcast on Instagram at stuff
30:34
Speaker 1: one Never Told You. Thanks as always to our super producer, Christina,
30:37
Speaker 1: Thank you, Christina, and thanks to you for listening. Stephon
30:40
Speaker 1: Told You, production of I Heart Radio. For more podcast
30:42
Speaker 1: on my heart Radio, you can check out the I
30:43
Speaker 1: radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you listen to your
30:45
Speaker 1: favorite shows,