MovieChat Forums > El Traspatio (2009) Discussion > The film as a film

The film as a film

posted 10 years ago by Yinky
3 replies | jump to latest

Was all over the place. Perhaps it's because I watched with English dubbing, which was absolutely horrible. Why the **** didn't Jimmy Smits do his own voice-over? It's not like he doesn't speak English. Whoever did his voice was completely wrong.

Too many stories going on at the same time...I kept getting the cops mixed up (except the female captain). Was the cop she worked with the most a good guy or a bad guy? I couldn't figure it out. I had no idea what that whole subtext was about. They kept mentioning serial killers, but that story line never seemed to go anywhere.

So you pretty much know from the git-go that the lead female is going to be eventually kidnapped, raped and killed. She's young, pretty and virginal, so you know she's going to be the victim. So she meets the guy that becomes her boyfriend (I guess)...and she blows him off (though he is creepy looking lol), so he hires some guys to drug her so he can have sex with her? So he rapes her unconscious body...and then we're supposed to feel sorry for him when they force him to kill her?

And it was WAY too long. By the time she was killed I was just watching to see what would happen, not really because I cared.

I didn't realize until the ending credits that they were trying to draw attention to the problem of women being used and discarded so heinously. I do appreciate what they were trying to do, and the situation is agonizing and frightening, but this movie was just...a mess. Sorry.

[–] bringonthelucie 9 years ago

Where did you see an english dub of this? I can't believe it exists.

Anyway, Fierro (the cop) seemed to be sort of in-between. He wasn't a bad guy or a good guy, the movie shows the reality as something far more complex. Fierro seemed to be the kind of guy who was okay with taking bribes and that sort of thing, but he also didn't seem to like the femicide situation. He put himself in a neutral place for his own protection and good. He was selfish if anything, but he also gave as much support as he could to Blanca.

The serial killer storyline never went anywhere because that's what has happened in real life. A guy like El Sultan actually existed and he was arrested, along with whole gangs. However, while they were in prison, the killings continued. Some of the cases have been solved, but very, VERY few in comparison to the other murders. Something tells me you had no idea about this situation, and I don't want to say that's okay, but that's no surrpise.

There probably were too many storylines going on, I agree. I think the movie intended how everyone impacted each other and what would lead to women being murdered, but I didn't think it was confusing at all. It probably needed better closure in a way. For me (SPOILER ALERT)
it was more realistic if they had caught or killed the rancheros that raped and killed Juanita rather than Jimmy Smits. But the movie went the opposite way and I didn't quite buy it.

Unfortunately, Juanita is a cliché in terms of femicide movies. So many of these movies are about characters like her, but at least she had more development, and at least her storyline had more to say rather than "Oh look, if you go to Juárez, you die", but I can see where you are coming from. I don't think we are supposed to feel sorry for the guy, though.

I agree that the movie was a bit too long, but it also seemed to go by fast. It could have been compressed somehow.

It's not a great movie, but it's one of the better films made out there about the subject matter, if not the best one.

[–] Yinky 9 years ago

I got it from Netflix.

The title of this thread is "the film as a film." Not this film as an historical recounting of actual events. If you're watching this movie on the level of film-making, it's all over the place and confusing. The serial killer being historical fact should not come into play as far as judging this as an art form.

To be honest, I don't really remember this movie. I saw it around a year ago, and I watch a LOT of movies. This one didn't leave much of an impression. Sorry.

[–] bringonthelucie 9 years ago

I understand. I just wanted to give you an explanation of the story behind the movie. But given that right off the bat, the movie tells you its based on real events, it's worth considering that this is how it all went down. Anyway, no need to apologize. I agree that the movie probably didn't do the best job in adapting this true story into a truly coherent movie. I think it's a movie that is tied together by theme than anything else, but that ends up giving the movie the problems you and I have discussed. I still think it's good, but far from the best.