In director Tatiana Huezo’s first foray into fiction, three young girls come of age in a rural Mexican village marked by violent conflict. Noche de Fuego is based on Jennifer Clement’s novel, Prayers for the Stolen.
Like many families in her mountain village, Ana (Ana Cristina Ordóñez González) and her mother Rita (Mayra Batalla) live alone while Ana’s father works elsewhere and sends money home when he can. The village’s remaining men and boys work at a nearby mine, while many of the women harvest the poppy fields for the cartel because it pays, and they hope for some protection in return.
We see the conflict through Ana’s eyes, meaning that our understanding of the situation is largely limited to a child’s perspective. We glean that there’s a lack of police assistance, leaving many villages vulnerable to the cartel. Helicopters fly overhead spraying poison onto the fields and sometimes the village is collateral, causing civilians to run for cover. Gangs of armed men in black SUVs roll into town and steal teenage girls from their homes. As a result, mothers disguise their daughters as boys at the first hint of adolescence and build hiding places for them. Ana learns from her mother to listen carefully to the world around them so they are attuned to any indicator of approaching danger. Ana attends school when it’s open, but teachers are run off by the cartel. By the time Ana is in her teens, she’s still making her way through elementary school.
As children, Ana and her two best friends spend their days playing in the forest, attempting mental telepathy, and attending school. They are initially unaware of the increased danger they face in becoming young women. Ana doesn’t understand how a simple game putting on lipstick with her friends leads her mother to drag her to the hair salon to chop her long, beautiful hair short. It’s heartbreaking watching the tears in Ana’s eyes, believing her mother is enforcing a cruel punishment; meanwhile, viewers understand that the lipstick incident has terrified Rita at the idea of Ana growing up and reaching an age where she could be stolen, causing Rita to disguise Ana as a boy. Many mothers follow suit, explaining to their daughters the short hair cuts are simply to protect them from lice.
While we don’t understand (and are not given) the context or particulars of the conflict, we understand more than young Ana about its consequences for women. The film relies on our external knowledge about real life to make inferences about the situation onscreen. On a couple of occasions, the film moves into Rita’s point of view in order to expand slightly on our understanding and build empathy for Rita’s struggle to raise and protect her daughter alone in a vulnerable environment. However, Rita’s perspective doesn’t provide much new information as the village is mostly hush-hush about the conflict. Although it’s frustrating at times that the film doesn’t explore the conflict in more depth, it keeps us closely connected to Ana’s experience.
The film jumps forward five years in time about halfway through its runtime. As a teenager, Ana (now played by Marya Membreño) becomes more aware of the dangers closing in even as she attempts to live a normal teen life. The mood in the village slowly shifts from one of frightened resignation to one of angry resistance. A new teacher challenges his students to dare to affect change and encourages the community to join other villages in taking a stand against the cartel. Ana is forced to grow up quickly as the conflict digs its way into her personal life; she suspects that her long-time crush has become involved in the cartel, and she experiences a personal loss that sends shockwaves through the community, finally prompting them to take action.
Huezo relies on her documentary filmmaking experience to incorporate a realist style in Noche de Fuego that imbues the film and Ana’s experiences with truth. Although it may sound action-packed, the film actually takes it time to connect with Ana and explore her world beyond the conflict, including her friendships, family dynamics, and how she interacts with her environment.
Noche de Fuego premiered at this year’s Cannes Film Festival where it received a special mention in the Un Certain Regard competition. The film was also selected as part of China’s Pingyao International Film Festival. This year marks the fifth edition of the festival, which aims to bring attention to emerging directors in the Chinese film industry and foster relations between Chinese and international filmmakers. Noche de Fuego was awarded the jury prize in the Crouching Tigers section, which showcases international directorial debuts and second features.
Score: B+
© 2021. UniversalCinema Mag.