El Velador: The Night Watchman

In examining the drug plague in Mexico, filmmaker Natalia Almada takes a minimalist approach, showing—with no preamble, interviews, or explanatory narration—the day-to-day routine of a town cemetery kept “busy” by the local violence, even though most of what we see is quiet and deceptively siesta-peaceful. Gravediggers and groundskeepers, mostly silent, do their work with portable radios on; the titular night watchman arrives; and attractive young women sweep dust off mausoleums and memorials (only via liner notes does one learn these are widows) as their children play. Every so often a mariachi-band procession comes along and other slain young males—presumably fallen in the drug cartel wars—are interred. And then the sun-washed graveyard waits for its next permanent residents. An English-language segment near the end spells out the message: the United States pours billions into a distant conflict in Afghanistan but hardly acknowledges this ongoing terror on its very doorstep. Still, while less may sometimes be more, the lack of guiding context here limits the potential audience for this timely documentary. A strong optional purchase. Aud: C, P. (C. Cassady)