BACKYARD/ EL TRASPATIO
Mexico, 2008, 120 minutes, Colour.
Ana de la Reguera, Asur Zagada, Jimmy Smits.
Directed by Carlos Carrera Gonzalez.
Backyard is a powerful police drama set in the border town of Juarez. Juaraz is the border town with El Paso, Texas. The film contrasts the difference between the two cities, the poverty and sometimes squalor of Juarez compared with the affluence of El Paso. It is significant that American companies have build factories in Juarez to take advantage of Mexican conditions and lower pay. The factories look very modern, have a comfortable style for the workers – but are still exploitative. (In fact, the film shows discussions between the governor of the state of Chihuaua in which Juarez is found and various representatives of trade from the United States and Japan.)
Juarez is continually in the headlines, from the 1990s with the number of crimes against women into the 21st century with the drug wars. As late as 2009, the Mexican authorities wanted United Nations peacekeepers to go into the city and had sent, also in 2009, seven thousand troops into the city to maintain order. However, the drug lords continue to maintain their battles concerning territories and the number of murders in Juarez is considerable.
This film is set in the mid-1990s. It focuses on the brutality and crimes against women. This theme was also the subject of the 2007 film Bordertown, directed by Gregory Nava, starring Jennifer Lopez as an American journalist who comes to the city, follows the life of the women, works in a factory and experiences the violent threats herself. The film co-starred Antonio Banderas and Martin Sheen. However, it was criticised as being a film from the outside (despite Gregory Nava’s background) with an American coming in to try to solve the crimes of a Mexican city. Another film which dealt with similar troubles, although focusing on the poor and the workers, was I, Witness with James Spader and Jeff Daniels.
Ana de la Reguera plays Branca Bravo, a strong-minded policewoman in the city. The film opens with the discovery of a body buried in the desert. This opens the story of the women who have been exploited. There is not one single explanation for such murders and the film suggests serial killers (the character of Sultan in this film), exploitation from across the border (with Jimmy Smits appearing as a predatory American businessman) and ordinary men in the town exploiting the women and killing them.
The film also shows the background of the governor in the city of Chihuaha, Juarez being in Chihuaha province. A pious man, yet ambitious, he has discussions about trade, organises the police to raid clubs to find quick solutions, is severe in his finding scapegoats for the scandals. He works hard for Juarez to avoid such a reputation for crime, damaging for tourism.
The film also shows the work of the police, finding the bodies in the desert, the interrogations of suspects, the confrontations, the raids – and their hands being tied, especially by corrupt police giving information to criminals.
The film also has another story, a young girl from the countryside coming to Juarez, young, being warned about the possibilities of pregnancy, working in the factory, yet becoming entangled with men and finally being murdered. There is also a subplot with a social worker who has been keeping dossiers on the number of young women who have disappeared or who have been found murdered. At the end of the film dire statistics about murders, crimes against women, not only in Mexico but in all of the Americas are given. The film hopes to contribute to some kind of consciousness about the situation in Juarez and in Mexico.
The film was directed by Carlos Carrera Gonzalez who directed the 2002 The Crime of Father Amaro.
1. Juarez, the 1990s, the 21st century, one of the most criminal cities in the world? The crimes against women, sexual exploitation, the drug wars, police and official corruption? The film offering images of this?
2. Juarez the city, the variety of neighbourhoods, the streets, the factories, police precincts, the homes, the outskirts and the desert, the trailers? The isolated areas of the city and the state?
3. The contrast with El Paso, the border, wealth, the United States, the offices, Juarez being the backyard of the title?
4. The musical score, the different languages, the different cultures, American and Hispanic? The role of the radio announcer, his observations about Juarez, his commentary on the city, its possibilities, the crime, the finale and his meeting with Blanca Bravo, his urging people to protest outside the governor’s office? His final comments?
5. The introduction, the finding of the body in the desert, Blanca and her work, the police presence, the various procedures, identifying the corpse, the social worker and her presence, her anger, her dossiers on the missing women, the confrontation with the police, the police work, police on the take, protecting criminals?
6. The state of Chihuaha: the role of the governor, as a person, religious, in church, his assistant, advice, the various commissioners, the meetings, discussions about handling the situation in Juarez, organising the raids? Discussions about the economy, the American senator, the Japanese trade contact? Their attitudes towards crime in the city? The factories, the issue of salaries, the threats to move production to Asia for cheaper rates? The protests outside the governor’s house? His decisions?
7. The role of the police, Blanca and her work, as a person, as a woman on the force, committed? The assistant and his work with Blanca? The interviews with the suspects? The commissioner? The social worker and the interviews? Blanca going to the funerals? The images of the pink crosses? The prayers of the priest, the women gathered to remember the dead? Blanca and her going to El Paso, the visit to Mike Santos? The raid on the Sultan, his brutality, the woman, the interrogations, his mentioning the name of Mike Santos? Blanca and her visit to El Paso? The arrest and imprisonment of the Sultan?
8. The rescue of the girl who had not died, the social worker and Blanca with her, the interrogations, the information? The world of the freezers and the women being kept? Trying to piece together what had happened to the women, their abductions, the torture, the information about the rapes, the asphyxiation, the dumping of the bodies? The tip-off about the freezer, Blanca going, its being empty but her imagining the bodies there?
9. The story of Juana, her arrival, the language, finding her cousin’s house, the joyful reunion, her hair being done, the photo, visiting the doctor, his warning about promiscuity, the pill, pregnancies? At work, the factory? Going to the nightclubs, meeting Cut, his being pleasant, going out with him, to his caravan, her provoking a sexual advance? The later visits to the club, dancing with the other man, Cut and his friends, the attempt at fighting? The raid, the arrest? The line-up – including Juana and her having a number? The spiking of her drink, her being taken, the men forcing Cut on her, the rape, her being smothered, dumped in the desert, Cut and his running away, encountering Blanca, finding the body, the funeral? The story as typical of the fate of so many young women?
10. The Sultan, his brutality, working in Juarez, the arrest, the interrogations, his surliness, his phone call, his ringing the radio station to give his point of view?
11. Santos, his work in El Paso, the interview with Blanca, his family, affluence, crossing the border, at the club, paying off the police for protection, cruising the streets, abducting the young girl, the gun, tormenting her – and caught by the two police cars, trying to explain himself, Blanca and her anger, shooting him?
12. The police commissioner, the payoff, his private talks with the assistant to promote him, giving him the money? The irony of the assistant and his working with Blanca to confront Santos?
13. Blanca, going about her police work, the threats, the pressures, the shooting of Santos, the end and her driving away? Her freedom to speak?
14. The radio interviewer, the confrontation with Blanca, his urging the protest against the governor, his final comments about Juarez?
15. The women, the visualising of the protests, the visualising of the bodies? The freezer? The funerals and the crosses?
16. The final statistics, from Mexico, from all over the Americas? The film attempting a contribution to consciousness about the situation in Mexico and in Juarez?
