Documentary explores the real-life horror of Mexico’s narco-violence
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In the documentary film, “La Libertad Del Diablo” (Devil’s Freedom), which explores systematic violence in Mexico, everyone is wearing a mask—from the crime victims to the gang members and law enforcement officials.
At first, these flesh-colored masks come off as scary—almost as if “La Libertad” were a horror movie. But the masks, which resemble those worn by burn victims, not only shield identities, they become a powerful storytelling device. As they get wet from the tears or sweat of the wearers, they accentuate rather than obscure the emotional content of the heart-rendering stories being told.
The mask, in a way, unifies them in pain, in fear,” said the film’s director Everardo González.
At the same time, they make viewers think about “how we stereotype what we consider is evil; how we put a face [to] evil,” González explained during a post-film discussion at the Landmark Theaters E Street Cinema on June 17, as part of the AFI Docs festival.
“In my opinion, they are all victims, we are all victims because these [gang members] don’t have the power—real power to make a difference when they have to pull the trigger,” he said.
The film begins with a series of interviews with people who have lost loved ones. A young girl shows photos of her mother and herself as a child. Those are the only photos she has because her mother was taken away, never to be seen or heard from again. Two sisters describe how their house was raided by gang members and their uncle beaten. Their father was intimated by the hoodlums, who sacked and looted the family home.
An older woman, whose two sons were taken away by police, explains how she went to the police station to file a report but was told the prosecutor was not in. She stayed overnight, sleeping at the station while she waited. When the prosecutor finally arrived, he told her it was not his shift and could not help her, which is when she realized her sons were gone forever.
González also interviewed gang members involved in the drug trade, getting their perspective on the violence. He found that power and money hold a powerful allure for these young killers. In one scene, a boy confesses how one day after school, while still in his school uniform, he shot a man dead in exchange for a brand new Audi, a car that exceeded his expectations of payment for the assassination. He was 14-years-old at the time.
“Kids are the most painful,” a masked gang member confides to the camera.
Another recalls a time when a man they were looking for ran away during a raid on his home, so the gang members lined up the man’s wife and children and shot them one by one. The young murderer expressed some remorse for killing innocent children who don’t understand what’s going on, particularly since he could imagine himself in the same situation. But he felt no compassion for the rest of the family.
“It’s a film about obedience, about fear, about hate,” says González, who adds, that “on the other hand, [there are] the possibilities of compassion or losing fears” too.
González says the film isn’t really about drug dealing, it’s a reflection on a decade of violence in Mexico that is linked to narcotrafficking.
Only one person interviewed in the entire film takes off her mask. The camera focuses on her face, you can see her expression, serious, and fearless. She is the mother of the two sons who went missing. She eventually explains that police dug up bodies in the desert including a body wearing her son’s shoes. Although it had not yet been identified, she just knew it was her son and that her other son was dead as well.
“In a way she is the only one in the story that has a closed case. She is a woman without fear. Because the mask, in a way, was unifying them in those terms of fear. It is also speech. She’s releasing herself from fear,” according to González.
“La Libertad Del Diablo” is a powerful documentary that reflects on the multiple dimensions of Mexico’s systematic violence. Mexico is our neighboring country and just because we are not experiencing the violence, it does not mean we should ignore the problem. The film’s screening in the AFI Docs festival was the second in the United States, but González says he hopes to bring it to more U.S. audiences.
“Sadly what I feel from U.S. audiences, is that people feel that this is happening really far away. And that is why, for me, it is so important to bring [this] film to the U.S,” says González
In a way, he says, people on both sides of the border share responsibility for what’s happening there.
“La Libertad Del Diablo” is now playing in film festivals around the world. González next stop is at the Moscow International Film Festival on June 27.
—Rebecca Toro
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