F06 :: Feminist Film Studies

First of all, what we saw in this documentary about Juarez and the treatment of women there was a cry for help. That was a way for Portillo to expose the injustice that is going on there. We saw the worst kind of misogyny that was exercised not only by men but even some women of Juarez. I felt that the overall opinion of the government was that these women deserved it. Not only were they subjected to horrible torture, but now their families had to defend them which showed the value of a woman doesn't amount to much there. The government made it look as though the girls/women were "bad" because they were out at night and did questionable things. On top of that, there was an overall understanding that if you were to come out and say anything, you could be in trouble. We see that when one man said that he didn't question anything or anybody when he found a body of a girl because he didn't want problems. The same happens when Suly, the investigator, basically implies that she is scared to do justice in one of the interviews. And, finally, in the treatment of Maria, the woman that came forward with the allegations of police being involved. Most importantly, I don't understand how the people that run the maquiladoras can just turn the other way and ignore this issue of severe injustice against women.
I feel that Portillo chose a certain way of telling this story, mostly through symbolism: shoes - representing the only way the relatives could identify a body; hands - when the relatives of the missing and murdered women decided to rise up and take this issue and the investigation into their own hands; and the close-up of the faces. I think the close up shots of the faces of these women was to familiarize us with their story. To let us know that they are humans first of all and highly devalued women.
Lastly, I felt that there should have been something said about the men of Juarez. Did they work at the same maquiladoras? Maybe they could have organized escort services for the women working early and late