While many of the horror films that get the big theatrical releases are scraping the bottom of their respective franchise barrels, there’s quietly been a renaissance in the genre over the past few years. Clearly influenced by Guillermo Del Toro’s “Pan’s Labyrinth”, Tigers Are Not Afraid is a thoughtfully designed and masterfully executed allegory for childhood trauma amid drug cartel violence in Mexico. Where Del Toro’s film delves more into the realm of fantasy horror, Issa López’s film has a gritty and tangible realism to its specters.
Told from the perspective of a group of orphaned children living on the streets, they get their hands on the cell phone of a cartel lieutenant. The phone contains sensitive information and when the cartel comes looking for it, the lives of them and those orphaned kids collide along with all the ghosts of their pasts.
The performances from these kids clicked in all the right ways, especially those of Paola Laura (Estrelle) and Juan Ramón López (El Shine) as the co-leads. Poor performances in those positions could derail the whole thing but we got some complex, emotional portrayals that made it exceedingly easy to empathize with these kids. Ianis Guerrero and Tenoch Huerta were both good as the cartel members, Caco and El Chino respectively, even though they weren’t particularly nuanced.
The subtext of the cartel infiltration of the Mexican government is a subtle but important piece of López’s screenplay. The story doesn’t focus on that aspect, but it’s a catalyst for why the cell phone is a relevant piece of the puzzle. More importantly, it paints a bigger picture of how corruption decapitates accountability and raises the question: how do you punish the bad guys when they are the ones at the top of the food chain?
While this is definitely a ghost story, the scariest portions of the movie are the ones that are the most grounded. There are some very well designed and effective visual elements that give the film its unique style, thanks to some stellar cinematography by Juan Jose Saravia. It’s still not exactly a “horror” movie. I say that because it wasn’t especially scary, even though it was dark, heavy, and psychologically cumbersome. However, it’s nice to see the parameters of the genre stretched to encompass diverse and challenging stories.
Recommendation: There are scarier movies out there, but this is a smart and original ghost story that deserves to be seen. If you typically like horror films, this is a must-see.