This film held ones interest even though some of the scenes were a bit weak and non-contributory. There isn't a lot of context provided for people who are unfamiliar with this civil war, but for those who have knowledge of it, it makes sense. The film is great for capturing the faces of the women who suffered during that period as well as the losses suffered by the young guerillas. It cannot be an easy task to look faces of the military in the eyes, knowing what some people had to endure at their hands. It's worth the watch since, unlike many independently produced, low-budget films from Latin America, this one actually comes together at the end. There are no loose ends.

After seeing 'La llorona', the Guatemalan submission for the upcoming foreign language Oscar, I decided to check out 'Nuestras Madres', which hit the cinemas earlier this year. Both films have the same subject: the aftermath of the cruel civil war in Guatemala. 'Nuestras Madres' was submitted for the Oscars last year by Belgium. This is the country where Guatemala-born director Cesar Diaz lives after he moved there as a student.

'Nuestras Madres' didn't win an Oscar, but it did win numerous other awards. It tells the story about the civil war by showing the search of a young Guatemalan for his father, who died in the war. The young man is an investigator for the government, taking care of the remains of dead bodies found in mass graves throughout the country. This is shown by some strong scenes. The opening scene, for instance, shows a human skeleton being assembled. It is shot vertically down from high above, so that all emphasis is on the skeleton. Another highlight is the sequence of indigenous women in a remote village who are being interviewed by the investigator. Instead of showing the interviews, Diaz lets each woman gaze straight into the camera for a prolonged period. Their eyes and faces tell the story, instead of their words.

In between the stronger scenes, the story sometimes falls a bit flat. The cinematography is straightforward, and the screenplay could have benefited from a bit more spice. Only in the last part of the film, the story gets a boost from some authentic emotional moments that grip the viewer. Compared to 'La llorona', this is more of a conventional film, with sometimes a documentary feel to it. Both films try to shed light on a very disturbing period in Guatemalan history. They do it in different ways, so that they perfectly complement each other.

I had high expectations for this movie as it generated a lot of buzz for winning the Caméra d'Or at Cannes, however, upon watching the movie you slowly realize that this film is not really about the indigenous mothers who fell victim to the Guatemalan armed conflict, but rather about a young man who works as an anthropologist that has a personal stake for helping these women who are searching for the remains of their loved ones. He really only helps them because he is looking for the remains of his father, all while his own mother tries to deter him from searching for his father as she's keeping a secret from him.

The film is beautifully shot, there is a sequence where the the women are photographed while providing their testimonies which is beautiful, but as I stated previously, the film fails to amplify the voices that give it its title and it failed to do so because it was told through the wrong point of view. It reminds me a little bit of The Help and how Skeeter, a white woman, is the protagonist in a story about black maids suffering from racism. Here you have Ernesto, a male looking for his father's remains, taking center stage in what should be a story about the suffering of these women.

"Mi Padre" would've been a more appropriate title.