‘Miss Bala’ Film Review: Gina Rodriguez Remake Misses the Target

Director Catherine Hardwicke puts a gun in the hand of Rodriguez’s abused heroine but still manages to deprive her of her power as a survivor

Yolanda Machado | January 31, 2019 @ 6:00 AM Last Updated: January 31, 2019 @ 8:11 AM
Miss Bala box office

Sony

Female empowerment is a complicated journey for any filmmaker to tackle because there is no one way to define or to interpret an empowered woman. When James Cameron called “Wonder Woman” an “objectified icon,” Patty Jenkins fired back by saying, “I believe women can and should be EVERYTHING, just like male lead characters should be. There is no right and wrong kind of powerful woman.”

Jenkins was right: Empowerment isn’t about looks or physical strength; it’s about who a woman is, and who she ends up becoming. Portraying that journey, while also trying to make a film about the Latinx community (a historically overlooked demographic in Hollywood cinema), becomes an extraordinarily difficult task for director Catherine Hardwicke in “Miss Bala.” She’s game for the challenge of remaking the 2011 Mexican film but doesn’t quite get there, mostly because of the underwritten characters, and a few confusing relationships that are mismatched for the messages that screenwriter Gareth Dunnet-Alcocer tries to convey.

Taking the premise of the original movie about political corruption and its relationship to beauty pageants in Mexico, Hardwicke and Dunnet-Alcocer reconceive the story to fit a more Americanized narrative, putting Gloria (Gina Rodriguez), a Mexican-born but LA-raised woman, at the center of the story. Gloria is a makeup artist who heads to Tijuana to visit and support her friend Suzu (Cristina Rodlo), who is competing in the Miss Baja California beauty pageant.

Watch Video: Gina Rodriguez Plays a Dangerous Game in First 'Miss Bala' Trailer

The women have a night out so that Suzu can network with pageant executives; when the nightclub is invaded and shot up by a Mexican cartel, Gloria escapes, but Suzu is nowhere to be found. Gloria quickly learns how deep police corruption goes in Mexico and finds herself held captive by cartel leader Lino (Ismael Cruz Córdova, “Mary Queen of Scots”). With her friend missing, her life in danger, and not knowing who to trust, Gloria embarks down a path that will leave her changed forever.

While “Miss Bala” should be commended for having a cast and crew that is over 95% Latinx on a film about Latinos, most of characters are still drug traffickers, gang members, and killers. And while Dunnet-Alcocer tries to give Lino some humanity, with a backstory to explain why he chose the cartel life — like many Latinx in the United States, Lino never feels entirely at home on either side of the border — the script forgets to give Gloria the same consideration. She is defined exclusively by her relationship to Suzu, with nothing to grow from besides the trauma Lino puts her through.

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Besides Suzu’s younger brother, every other character is a gang member, a corrupt politician, an abused woman, or someone who has been bought off in one way or another. The film tries to offer some balance by having three of the non-Latinx characters also be immoral and shady, but since these characters aren’t seen for more than a few minutes — whereas we see multiple scenes of Mexicans being awful — it feels like a consolation prize rather than an attempt at evening the playing field.

The mixed messages continue in how the two main characters are connected. The heavy sexual tension between Gloria and Lino comes off as fairly creepy, considering he’s her captor. One could argue that tension stems from the overall attractiveness of Rodriguez and Cruz Córdova, but there’s more going on than just that.

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Hardwicke includes several specific scenes that intentionally lead the audience to believe that romantic and sexual feelings exist between a woman held hostage and her abuser. In the era of #MeToo, and the knowledge that comes from listening to survivors of abuse and violence, this portrayal is very misleading and raises an ethical question regarding the ongoing presentation of violence against women on film.

Though the action sequences and pacing move well, and cinematographer Patrick Murguia (“Low Winter Sun”) definitely leans his camera into the “female gaze,” what’s most disappointing about Hardwicke’s remake is how it compares to the original film. The original was directed by a man (Gerardo Naranjo), and unlike the remake, it took care in making sure the audience knew that Gloria was without a doubt an innocent victim. Hardwicke’s “Miss Bala,” on the other hand, is a classic example of putting a woman through traumatic events only to change her into a gun-wielding heroine. What this new version forgets, to its detriment, is that Gloria’s strength doesn’t come from finally holding the gun; it comes from being a survivor.

15 Highest-Grossing American Remakes of Foreign Films, From 'Godzilla' to 'The Departed' (Photos)

  • The Upside STX Entertainment
  • The Tourist Golden Globes Columbia Pictures
  • Nine Months Julianne Moore Hugh Grant Twentieth Century Fox
  • dinner for schmucks Paramount
  • Paul Walker eight below zero Walt Disney Pictures
  • Vanilla Sky Paramount Pictures
  • Rooney Mara Dragon Tattoo Columbia Pictures Corporation
  • Italian Job Charlize Theron Paramount Pictures
  • The Grudge Columbia Pictures Corporation
  • The Birdcage MGM
  • The Ring 2002 DreamWorks
  • The Departed Jack Nicholson Warner Bros.
  • Godzilla - 1998 Warner Bros.
  • True Lies Twentieth Century Fox
  • three_men_and_a_baby Buena Vista Pictures
  • Godzilla_tv-spot-featured Legendary/Warner Bros.
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“The Upside,” opening this week, is a remake of the French box office smash “The Intouchables”

Opening this weekend is "The Upside," an American remake of "The Intouchables," a film that made so much money in France that it became a cultural event. After earning $166 million in France, the country's second-highest-grossing film ever, and over $426 million worldwide, an American remake of the film was inevitable. But surprisingly, box office hits abroad don't always translate when remade with American actors, and the ones that do rarely resemble their original inspiration. Here are the highest-grossing American remakes of foreign films (all domestic box office figures via Box Office Mojo).

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