18 year old Blanca used to live in a foster home for abused children run by Father Manuel. She escaped years ago. She is now back with a baby, looking for a job as a domestic. She has been the victim of abuse since an early age and, encouraged by the priest, she bravely tries to expose a pedophile ring that victimized her, led by a wealthy industrialist and a politician. She encounters the usual nearly unsurmountable difficulties; the accused deny everything and the prosecutor slyly tries to turn the tables making victims of the perpetrators. The local bishop warns Father Manuel off the case and questions his direction of the shelter; the industrialist and the politician are pillars of society and prominent Church benefactors. The press gets involved unequivocally on Blanca's side (to the point of libel) and she becomes a celebrity, a feminist hero, a profile in courage. We root for her. So far, everything is clean cut, black-and-white.
At this point inconsistencies are discovered in some testimonies and the case gets more complex. Characters that we trusted became suspect. There are no flashbacks, so we don't know what really happened. We, the viewers, are the jury; we must sift the true from the false (not always possible), and reach a conclusion from incomplete and/or contradictory information, which hopefully will qualify as preponderance of the evidence. We expect a conclusive ending but we don't get it. There is no big reveal and not everything falls into place neatly.
The plot is based on a 2003 real judicial case. Chilean director and scriptwriter Fernando Guzzoni tells the tale smoothly and with a steady pace. This was the first acting credit for Laura López, playing Blanca. She does an excellent job supported by a script that at no time falls into sentimentality, and her confrontations with the justice are especially riveting. At times, the movie is difficult to watch due to the nature of the subject, but in the end we have seen a superior film. Highly recommended..
At this point inconsistencies are discovered in some testimonies and the case gets more complex. Characters that we trusted became suspect. There are no flashbacks, so we don't know what really happened. We, the viewers, are the jury; we must sift the true from the false (not always possible), and reach a conclusion from incomplete and/or contradictory information, which hopefully will qualify as preponderance of the evidence. We expect a conclusive ending but we don't get it. There is no big reveal and not everything falls into place neatly.
The plot is based on a 2003 real judicial case. Chilean director and scriptwriter Fernando Guzzoni tells the tale smoothly and with a steady pace. This was the first acting credit for Laura López, playing Blanca. She does an excellent job supported by a script that at no time falls into sentimentality, and her confrontations with the justice are especially riveting. At times, the movie is difficult to watch due to the nature of the subject, but in the end we have seen a superior film. Highly recommended..
