This film began life as a documentary about kidnaps for ransom, fuelled by narco violence in northern Mexico. But when cartels started following Belgian-Romanian director Teodora Mihai around she changed tack, turning her material into drama – working with Mexican scriptwriter Habacuc Antonio de Rosario. Still, the film’s nonfictional beginnings perhaps explain why Mihai tells her story not so much as a thriller but as a naturalistic-looking drama, intelligent and mostly absorbing. It’s inspired by true events, fictionalising the story of Miriam Rodríguez Martínez, a mother who hunted down the people responsible for the kidnap and murder of her 14-year-old daughter.
Arcelia Ramírez is outstanding as Cielo, a middle-aged woman whose daughter Laura goes missing. The next day a smirking, menacing young man called El Puma (Daniel Garcia), demands 150,000 pesos “if you want to see your daughter again.” With her ex-husband Gustavo (Álvaro Guerrero), she cobbles the money together, hands over a brown envelope and a brand new truck. But instead of returning Laura, El Puma delivers another ultimatum. Cielo’s ex-husband gives a fatalistic shrug and withdraws into grief. The cops can’t help her, or won’t. At a morgue Cielo views the bodies of two decapitated young women – thrown out of a truck on to the street among morning commuters. Neither is her daughter.
No one wants to get involved, but Cielo’s resolve hardens. She turns detective, tracking the cartel members down, beginning with a woman known as Commander Inez (Alessandra Goñi Bucio). There’s an observational style to the camerawork, watchful of Cielo, giving the movie a documentary-like feel. At times it lacks heat and energy, but Ramírez’s performance is compelling. Cielo is methodical in her investigation, but reckless about her own safety. In moments of danger she is terrified. But the worst thing has already happened; what more can the cartels do to her? This is a brilliantly realistic nightmare that stays believable right up to the end.
• La Civil is released on 14 March on digital platforms.
