Miss Bala (2011 film)

Miss Bala (Spanish for "Miss Bullet")[4] is a 2011 Mexican action thriller film[5] written by Gerardo Naranjo with Mauricio Katz and directed by Gerardo Naranjo. The film premiered in the Un Certain Regard section at the 2011 Cannes Film Festival.[6][7] The film was selected as the Mexican entry for the Best Foreign Language Film at the 84th Academy Awards,[8][9] but it did not make the final shortlist.[10] An American remake was made in 2019.

Miss Bala
Cinematic release poster
Directed byGerardo Naranjo
Written byGerardo Naranjo
Mauricio Katz
Produced byPablo Cruz
StarringStephanie Sigman
CinematographyMátyás Erdély
Edited byGerardo Naranjo
Music byEmilio Kauderer
Production
companies
Distributed byFox International Productions[1] (through 20th Century Fox)
Release dates
  • 13 May 2011 (2011-05-13) (Cannes)
  • 9 September 2011 (2011-09-09) (Mexico)
Running time
113 minutes[2]
CountryMexico
LanguageSpanish
Box office$427,815[3]

Plot

23-year-old Laura Guerrero (Sigman) lives with her father Ramón (Javier Zaragoza) and little brother Arturo (Juan Carlos Galván). Laura and her friend Suzu (Lakshmi Picazo) both enter the competition for the Miss Baja beauty pageant. They go to the Millennium Night Club, where Suzu meets her boyfriend Javi (Hugo Márquez). However, when Laura goes into the bathroom, she witnesses members of the La Estrella gang causing chaos by shooting and killing a number of DEA officers and nightclub-goers. Frantic, she tries to search for Suzu, and as a result fails to show up for the early rehearsal for the pageant and is ejected from the competition.

She is then kidnapped by the leader of the La Estrella gang, Lino (Noé Hernández), and the gang also kidnap her brother and father as bargaining chips to control her. Laura is used by the gang for criminal missions, including transporting drug money across the US border, and luring out a DEA agent who has infiltrated the organization (José Yenque).

The climax of the film occurs after Laura wins the Miss Baja contest; she attempts to escape, but is recovered and later raped. The gang uses her to seduce a prominent military general (Miguel Courtrier); but she switches sides when she learns that Suzu had been a casualty in the nightclub shooting. She manages to survive the ensuing shoot-out, but is captured by the military, beaten, and paraded as a member of the gang. Laura is taken away by the police and dropped off at an undisclosed location.

Cast

Real life incident

Miss Bala is loosely based on a real incident, in which 2008's Miss Sinaloa, Laura Zúñiga, was arrested with suspected gang members in a truck filled with munitions outside Guadalajara, Jalisco. In an interview with Complex Magazine, director Gerardo Naranjo said that he had met Zúñiga, but that "I really didn’t want to go into their psyches. I guess the film has a very strong point-of-view, and we refuse to get into the minds of these guys, because I think that’s what every other movie does… I wanted to live the experience from the point-of-view of an innocent person."[11]

Reception

On its release at the 2011 Cannes Film Festival, Miss Bala received praise from critics.[12] On review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 87% based on 69 reviews, with an average rating of 7.2/10. The website's critical consensus reads, "Miss Bala's subject is loaded enough, but the frantic and muscular filmmaking puts this movie in a whole new league."[13] At Metacritic, which assigns a weighted mean rating to reviews, the film has an average score of 79 out of 100, based on 24 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".[14]

Remake

In 2017, it was announced Catherine Hardwicke would direct a remake of the film, from a screenplay by Gareth Dunnet-Alcocer, starring Gina Rodriguez, Ismael Cruz Córdova, and Anthony Mackie.[15][16][17][18] It was released on 1 February 2019, by Columbia Pictures.[19]

See also

References
  1. Abrams, Rachel (28 April 2011). "Fox to distrib 'Miss Bala' in Mexico". Variety. Retrieved 29 April 2023.
  2. "Miss Bala << British Board of Film Classification". British Board of Film Classification. 17 August 2011. Retrieved 19 August 2011.
  3. "Miss Bala (2012) - Financial Information". The Numbers.
  4. Bailey-Millado, Rob (31 January 2019). "'Miss Bala' is a misfire — but star Gina Rodriguez is a direct hit". Retrieved 1 February 2019.
  5. "Miss Bala (2012) - Gerardo Naranjo". AllMovie.
  6. "Festival de Cannes: Official Selection". Cannes. Archived from the original on 15 May 2011. Retrieved 16 April 2011.
  7. "Cannes film festival 2011: The full lineup". guardian.co.uk. London. 14 April 2011. Retrieved 16 April 2011.
  8. Hecht, John (22 September 2011). "'Miss Bala' Crowned Mexico's Foreign-Language Oscar Submission". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 22 September 2011.
  9. "63 Countries Vie for 2011 Foreign Language Film Oscar". oscars.org. Archived from the original on 18 May 2012. Retrieved 14 October 2011.
  10. "9 Foreign Language Films Vie for Oscar". Archived from the original on 18 May 2012. Retrieved 19 January 2012.
  11. Matt Barone (21 January 2012). "Interview: "Miss Bala" Director Gerardo Naranjo Talks Mexico's Drug Wars, Beauty Queen Victims & Un-Hollywood Action". Complex. Retrieved 3 April 2016.
  12. Kaufman, Anthony (15 May 2011). "'Miss Bala' Subverts Criminal Thriller Genre at Cannes 2011". The Wall Street Journal. Dow Jones & Company. Retrieved 19 May 2011.
  13. "Miss Bala (2012)". Rotten Tomatoes. Fandango Media. Retrieved 4 January 2021.
  14. "Miss Bala (2011) Reviews". Metacritic. Red Ventures. Retrieved 4 January 2021.
  15. Fleming, Mike Jr. (4 April 2017). "Catherine Hardwicke To Helm 'Miss Bala' Remake; Gina Rodriguez Courted". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved 22 July 2018.
  16. N'Duka, Amanda (15 May 2017). "Gina Rodriguez Set To Star In 'Miss Bala', Ismael Cruz Córdova Cast As Male Lead". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved 22 July 2018.
  17. Lang, Brent (23 April 2018). "'Miss Bala,' Animated Spider-Man Show Sony's Commitment to Diverse Heroes". Variety. Retrieved 22 July 2018.
  18. Kroll, Justin (19 July 2017). "Matt Lauria and Cristina Rodlo Join Gina Rodriguez in 'Miss Bala' Remake (EXCLUSIVE)". Variety. Retrieved 22 July 2018.
  19. D'Alessandro, Anthony (2 March 2018). "Sony Dates Trio For 2019: 'Miss Bala', 'A Dog's Way Home' & 'The Crow'". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved 22 July 2018.
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