TEMPESTAD

Mexico, 2016, 105 minutes, Colour.
Directed by Tatiana Huezo.

Tempestad is a documentary from Mexico, written and directed by a woman, Tatiana Huezo, telling the story of two women who suffer because of the influence of the truck cartels.

One of the women is in prison, prisons which are run by private enterprise, was falling foul cartels but, so, is released, goes to the bus station, travels home to be reunited with her son. But, this freedom is tentative, and the woman is always at risk from further attack.

The other woman belongs to a circus which travels around entertaining in the country. Her daughter has a scholarship to the University but his abducted and the woman and her husband are asked to pay ransom. They spent a great deal of energy searching for the daughter, but without success.

The been many thrillers as well is realistic dramas about the prevalence of the cartels, their reach into every aspect of Mexican society, the ruthlessness – but these two stories are effectively told and illicit an emotional response to the two women and the sufferings.

1. A Mexican story? Audience perspectives on Mexico, the cartels, the police? The place of women, the treatment?

2. The female perspective, the writer-director, the actresses, voice-overs, their stories?

3. The title, Tempest, in conflict?

4. The structure of the film: two stories, separate, interconnected? The effect of each on the other?

5. The poetic style of the film, metaphors and symbols? Realism? The intersecting of the poetic with the real?

6. The young woman, her story, the screen dark with her narration, the images of ruined buildings, the emphasis on the visual, to get out of prison or, a bewilderment, in the night, the bus station, reflections, the bus home, the significance of Martin, his death? Wanting to be reunited with Leo, at home, school, her fears, her having to take stock of the effect of her fears on Leo, her change?

7. The mother, the circus background, husband, life, family and friends, travelling? The abduction of her daughter, the University? The messages, the ransom? The continued search? The favour, her disappearance?

8. The impact of these two stories, in the Mexican setting, and empathy for the women and their plight?