In this exceptionally wonderful feature film debut from Peruvian writer/director Melina León the stunningly grim setting is a bleak as the story line itself. The film is set in 1988 when Peru is in totally turmoil and as the economy spirals out of control, poverty gets even worse, and there is little hope for anyone.
Heavily pregnant 20 year old Georgina (Pamela Mendoza) lives in a destitute Quecha village on the outer limits of Lima. She and her young husband Leo (Lucio Rojas) try to scrape a meager living together selling potatoes at the local market .
It’s at the marker one day she hears a radio ad for a private clinic in Lima offering free natal care to expecting mothers. Its too good to be true, but the moment the child is born, she is taken away allegedly to a hospital for some vital checks. A very distressed Georgina is sent home and told to come back in the morning, but when she does, the Building is now empty, and there is no sign of any clinic.
Both the Police and Court Authorities can barely bother to talk to her and Leo, so in final desperation she goes to a local newspaper . She finds a potential savior there in a shy young journalist Pedro (Tommy Párraga), who agrees to take on her case.
He does eventually uncover the fact that Georgina is not the first peasant girl to be duped like this, and discovers a highly organised gang who specialise in stealing and selling bables. Thanks to a corrupt judge most of these are giving papers so they can be taken abroad and are totally untraceable.
When Pedro has enough evidence he exposes the gang in his newspaper, which surprisingly is enough to get them all sent to jail, including the judge. However it still doesn’t help in the recovery of any babies, and when Pedro approaches a Senator in the Administration he is dismissed with a callous ‘well they are far better off now than the lives they would have had with their birth mothers’.
The movie is based on real incidents but adding to the sheer sadness of this authoritarian and corrupt society out of control is the overwhelming feeling that this actually could still be happening now. A dire impoverished and lawless I988 Peru looks similar to other parts of the Continent today.
There was a touching side plot that had shy closeted Pedro have a tender encounter with his gay neighbour , but the public knowledge of that affair only gave the baby traffickers an excuse to threaten him with violence.
The sheer monotone vistas not only heightened just the sense of melodrama but turned this simple tale into one of a visual delight.
León is a brilliant new filmmaker that we cannot wait to see what she comes up with next.
P.S. Now screening in Film Movement’s Virtual Cinema : check HERE for details
