Miss Bala

Filmmaker Gerardo Naranjo on a true story for this stranger-than-fiction drama centered on Laura (Stephanie Sigman), a 23-year-old Tijuana seamstress who enters a beauty pageant for the prize money—a decision that will turn out to be the worst of her life. Laura finds herself in the wrong nightclub at the wrong time as members of the La Estrella drug cartel stage a raid and her friend goes missing. When Laura contacts a corrupt policeman, La Estrella abducts her, and while group leader Lino (Noe Hernández) guarantees Laura's participation in the upcoming contest before letting her go, they track her down again—turning her home into their headquarters and making her their mule. Soon, Laura is crossing the border to deliver money to federal agents, who are also on the take, returning just in time for the pageant. Serving as a go-between would be bad enough, but Laura must also serve Lino in ways that are even more degrading. From start to finish, however, Laura is neither action heroine nor passive victim, but rather stoic survivor. A solid foreign film, this is recommended. (K. Fennessy)