Review: Miss Bala
Gina Rodriguez has both star presence and talent to spare. Anyone who has seen her on the criminally underrated television series Jane the Virgin, which is about to launch its fifth and final season, knows that she can play any emotion in any register. She is earthy, spirited, vulnerable, but there is also an inherent resilience that assures audiences that she will never be anything but triumphant. Therein lies the problem with both Rodriguez and the relentlessly routine English-language remake of the 2011 Mexican film, Miss Bala.
The 2011 film centred around a beauty pageant contestant who witnesses a crime, reports it to corrupt cops and finds herself handed over to the cartel thugs that committed the crime. Yes, she was a pawn and, yes, she was very often a victim but she was also emblematic of the many innocent people who find themselves caught in the crossfire of a drug war. The remake, on the other hand, often plays like an origin story for a female vigilante superhero, which may be a more salient angle in this time of female empowerment but which robs the tale of its power and resonance.
Rodriguez plays Gloria Fuentes, now written as a makeup artist from Los Angeles who drives down to her hometown of Tijuana to support her best friend Suzu (Cristina Rodlo) as she prepares for the Miss Baja California pageant. There's some chatter exchanged about how Gloria feels disconnected from her former hometown - "I always felt like such a stranger here." - before the two friends go out partying at a club, where Suzu hopes to increase her chances of winning by cosying up to the chief of police. Gunfire soon erupts when a drug cartel led by Lino (the striking Ismael Cruz Córdova), chaos ensues and, in the mayhem, Gloria and Suzu are separated. Desperate to find her friend, Gloria appeals to a cop, who hands her over to Lino who says he'll help her find Suzu if she does a couple of jobs for them. This leads her to being kidnapped by a DEA agent (Matt Lauria), who dangles a prison sentence over her head if she won't help them take down Lino. Meanwhile, there's a man named Jimmy (Anthony Mackie), who tells her to let Lino know that there's a DEA mole in his midst.
That Gloria doesn't know who to trust is where the film derives much of its power, but the original used that confusion to greater effect because its protagonist was truly in over her head. At no point in the remake does one feel that Gloria won't get herself out of the series of sticky situations in which she finds herself. In fact, one often feels that the film is merely biding time until the money shot of Gloria in a red gown slit to the heavens, toting an AR-15 and ready to kick ass. One can understand the filmmakers' decision to make Gloria less of a victim and possess more agency, but it drains the narrative of its depth, complexity, and impact. As a result, Miss Bala feels generic and flavourless despite its best intentions and Rodriguez's valiant effort.
Miss Bala
Directed by: Catherine Hardwicke
Written by: Gareth Dunnet-Alcocer
Starring: Gina Rodriguez, Ismael Cruz Córdova, Anthony Mackie, Aislinn Derbez, Matt Lauria, Thomas Dekker, Cristina Rodlo, Ricardo Abarca, Damián Alcázar
