Synopsis
Blanca Bravo (Ana de la Reguera), a tough, idealistic young policewoman trained at the national police academy in Mexico City is assigned to Ciudad Juárez, a gritty frontier town just over the U.S. border and site of multiple international factories and assembly plants, maquilladoras…virtually in America’s very backyard. She must quickly adjust to a society at odds with itself - on one side bustling industry and growth, and on the other a sea of inhabitants who face injustice, poverty, and constant violence. Young women disappear here with alarming regularity, one per week on average, most of them poor migrant factory workers. Some are found weeks later, dumped in the desert, murdered and mutilated, and some simply vanish. All are nameless victims of crimes that go uninvestigated by a male-dominated police force who treat these crimes as little more than a nuisance. The locals whisper of a serial killer. The authorities want an arrest…the media attention is bad for the city’s image, and therefore, business.
Acting against the orders of her superiors, Blanca’s own investigation into the disappearances reveals something far more disturbing, exposing an ugly truth about the very core of society. To expose this ghastly injustice to the world she must struggle to overcome continual stonewalling, corruption, greedy political stalwarts, the disdain of the callous local police force, and widespread indifference…all the while risking becoming a victim herself!
This powerful film from acclaimed Mexican director Carlos Carrera is a haunting, tragic tale of global impropriety that lingers long after the first viewing.