By: Claudio “El Espiritu Sancho” Cortés 

Between 1960 and 1996 more than 32,000 Mayan people were killed systematically by the US backed Guatemalan regime under the guise of “protecting our hemisphere from the evils of communism”. Like countless other mass murders in latin america of in the era, I was completely unaware of this fact that is …until I watched today’s film and found myself falling down the wikipedia rabbithole that frequently accompanies my watching of movies. In my defense,  I like to see what story elements are based in reality VS just how creative the film’s writers are. 

I came across today’s movie during a Tuesday night scrolling session one evening in July when I was in the mood to be frightened. I chose it because the title was La Llorona, and when you put a title with such communal nostalgic value attached to it on something chances are I am going to end up watching it. Title title is  how I fell into the trap of watching that baaad curse of the Llorona film as well as countless other well intentioned however off the mark movies with Llorna in the title. If you read Milwaukeño you are very likely aware of the story of La Llorona; Mother loses children, mother mourns children, mother’s restless spirit seeks revenge, other mothers use it to keep the kids in line. Today’s film takes that tried and true formula and reimagines it. Today’s film reframes the tale in the context of the aftermath of Gueatmala’s “Silent Holocaust”, it reimagines the tale of the pained mother character. This is a movie about revenge, and it will have you rooting for La Llorona, it turns our cucuy into a sympathetic character. It is for the creativity and informative nature of this movie that I highly recommend that you watch it. 

You can watch La Llorona (2019) on Shudder with a free trial and or subscription (you should really get a subscription) 

Today’s musical accompaniment to this heavy movie is Llorona as performed by Flor Amargo, a severely underrated mexican musician that you should do yourself and take a deep dive into, especially if you like piano lead music. 

Keep up with the playlist as it builds Here

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