The Virgin of Juarez

I grew up on the Texas/Mexican border a little further south of El Paso/Juarez and what is happening there and Nuevo Laredo is nothing short of tragic. Anyone who thinks this film brings light on this horrible situation must be on drugs. If you are ignorant to what is going on at our borders, this film will only confuse you into believing that this much death could not possibly be true. I watched this film and could look past the "After School Special" directing approach Kevin adopted. I could even look past terrible casting & bad acting but as a Latino growing up in that area, I couldn't help but being offended with the stereotypical way we are portrayed. Growing up as a gang banger in LA with a gang banger lifestyle could not be further than the way I grew up. I guess that is the only way you can portray 1st generation Latinos in this industry and make money. I am not saying those things don't exist but that is not the only way Latinos live in this country. DO NOT WATCH THIS FILM!!! Please read about what is really happening on our borders and how the drug lords have taken over in these areas and educate yourself about the people who are dying everyday. The producers of this film obviously didn't have enough respect for these poor dead women to take this subject seriously.

This movie is almost as bad as the experience of working on it was - for me, anyway. I think that men with waning careers, such as the director of this movie, should find some sort of an exploitation vehicle to try and remain afloat. To take a true story, where so much innocent blood was - and apparently continues to be - spilled on the streets of Juarez and turn it into a shoot 'em up comic book farce that has zero to do with what actually took place is great disservice to the victims. The story is real, and needs to be told; I am looking forward to the Gregory Nava/Jennifer Lopez vehicle in the works. This movie is very well made, for the means allotted (very low budget), and the cast does an excellent job: too bad the opportunity to bring needed attention to the horrors taking place on our border was wasted by substandard storytelling.

What a bad movie I have never reviewed a movie on IMDb before but this movie is awful. The acting is terrible and the characters are one dimensional. The plot is awful, it is an overdramatization of a terrible situation that is only trivialized by this movie. I would suggest you read a one page article on these murders because it will save your time and give you a better feeling for what is really happening. Any documentary by a five year old would have done a better job of educating and almost any other movie is produced with more thought.

pass on this movie. I wish I could have my time back.

This movie is a tragedy, because it (Kevin Dobson) had an opportunity to tell a very important story about the horrible murders in Juarez but instead he turned it into a stupid shoot em up farce that has nothing to do with the subject matter. The cast is just stumbling along with this painful script, I know the director is in control and everyone has to work, but my God, did they read this garbage first??? And, poor Angus Macfadyen is so terribly miscast. Why the hell would you cast a Scotsman in the part of a Mexican when all the other Hispanic parts are being played by Hispanics? His inability to pull off a believable accent (Not to mention that bad tan job they did on him) made him look foolish. He's a better actor than this film shows.

Go watch something else.

THE VIRGIN OF JUAREZ is based on true events surrounding the crime problems of Juarez, Mexico reflected in the gringo exploitation of businesses in neighboring El Paso, Texas. The story contains many important facts that desperately need to be brought into the light, but the impact of the film falters because of the choices made by the writer and director.

Karina Danes (Minnie Driver) is a journalist for a Los Angeles newspaper who has flown to Juarez to investigate the multiple (in the hundreds) killings of young women. The targets for these murders seem to be young women working in the US sponsored sweatshops in Juarez who are picked up at night after work, raped, beaten and killed. Danes is convinced the Juarez police force is doing nothing and takes on the mission of exposing the tragedies, in part due to her own past issues of being to idle with similar crimes in the US. She meets Father Herrera (Esai Morales) and a community activist Patrick (Angus MacFadyen) and together they probe the police files and follow the most recent murder, discovering along the way a survivor named Mariela (Ana Claudia Talancón), a frightened young girl whose memory of her rape and beating is erased by her apparent vision of the Virgin Mary. A father of one of the victims, Isidro (Jorge Cervera, Jr.) nurtures Mariela and helps her to escape the hospital, placing her in a 'church' where she becomes a 'saint' to the people of Juarez who long for the crimes to end. Mariela appears to the public with the stigmata of bleeding hands and offers hope to the victims' families. Danes works hard to discover evidence that will expose the perpetrators, taking a sheet of photos of 'most wanted men' from the police office of Detective Lauro (Jacob Vargas), and works with the police and Father Herrera to resolve the tragic chain of events that continue in Juarez. Fearing for Mariela's life, they transport her to Los Angeles where mysterious events end the story.

The squeaky, mawkish script was written by Michael Fallon and directed by Kevin James Dobson. Had their vision been more directed toward defining the line between realism and fanaticism, the story would possibly have been better related. There are some good performances by Driver, Talancón, Morales, and Vargas but the minor roles vary in quality. Reporting atrocities such as the one this film addresses is a valid and valuable contribution of contemporary cinema. It is sad when script and the production dull the impact. Grady Harp