Upon hearing of this film I immediately wanted to see it. Now that I have, I found myself very disappointed with the result. It starts out very interesting, a young girl named Laura, at home very much in love with her family. Letting the viewers know that she’ll do anything for them, but the story doesn’t go in that direction instead we are given a story of survival (Laura’s survival) and once again it stops in the middle and throws in another version. In other words the film has something for everyone. The film tries to please every viewer and that’s exactly what ruins it. Once Laura is captured by the Cartel and she is forced to work for them, the film takes on another genre, you no longer feel you’re watching a movie now it’s like watching a Documentary with actors re-enacting scenes from real life events. Some might argue that that is exactly what the Director intended, for the viewer to feel like the movie was real. But it fails to make you feel that way, it just makes you aware that the events were faked for the camera reminding you that you’re not enjoying the film and you’re wishing for the end to come soon. Every time the movie shifts you lose interest in the story and it becomes impossible to win you back. It’s confusing at times, like why is the the Boss so nice to Laura? Since he is too nice to her you can’t believe he is in that kind of business, and a good movie should never be confusing. The film is missing compassion, had the story focused more on her family it would have had that. Instead we are detached from the characters because we don’t care enough for them or because they are bad people who don’t deserve our sympathy. It’s hard to root for Laura she never shows any emotion for us to empathize with, not even fear. She is like wooden puppet without feelings who does anything the Cartel says. She cries in some scenes but fails to move you because she never showed any reaction before arriving at this moment. So if she lives or if she dies you just don’t care because she never reached deep enough to touch you and make you understand her. You’ve had enough and don’t want to waste any more time on her, like the crimes depicted in this movie, you just want her (Laura) to go away.

2 STARS