SnoopyStyle Good girl Laura Guerro and her friend Suzu enter and qualify for the Miss Baja pageant. Laura is waiting for Suzu at a nightclub when a drug gang breaks in to kill the drug enforcement cops. She escapes from the massacre and tries to find Suzu. She seeks help from a cop but he calls in a gang who kidnaps her. The gangleader takes an interest in her and makes her compete in the pageant. He kidnaps her father and little brother pulling her further into the crime family.This is a wild crazy crime drama. This movie is nuts. One really feels for Laura. I wish she has a drug gang watchdog on her for the whole movie. She needs another person to build a relationship, have conversations and to interact with. Her character needs to show more struggle. Of course, the gang has her in complete control. The only way for her to show some spark is through some dialog with another person. That's the main thing missing here.

olafco03 Miss Bala was a riveting movie that abducts the audience taking them deep into the movie and leads them on an emotional heart-pounding ride. The film was a great success largely in part to the outstanding performance of Stephanie Sigman and the superb storytelling abilities that director Gerardo Naranjo displayed.The film had a good script that seemed natural and flowed very well as the movie progressed. Also, the cinematography was excellent as is did a great job submerging the audience right into the film. Often times the suspense was clenching as the camera focused into a still point on the protagonist and the audience mimicked the character wanting to see what was around the corner but hesitated to look because we all knew danger lurked. As the plot delved deeper, the lines dividing what we thought we knew get blurry. This feeling of confusion was amplified by Sigman's realistic performance. It was like an emotional 3D effect, where not only was the character unsure of what was going to happen the audience themselves were not too sure either. I didn't have to hear a cheesy narration (*cough, cough* Savages) to know just how the main character felt at any giving time, I could just see Sigman's face and know exactly how she felt. In the end the audience follows Sigman's character through thick and thin, wondering, worrying, try, failing, and is left at the mercy of the fate.Though this movie is a very well made, no movie is unblemished. A few flaws to point out is that the movie jumps from plausible to farfetch events. Also this movie may have a few plot holes that cannot be fully explained by anyone.The selected theaters is a key point to note a few things. This is not a typical action movie, this a drama/suspense film with action in it. This movie is not a good guys versus bad guys movie with a clear black and white distinction, this is a film that mirrors real life and has many shades of grey. This is not a mainstream movie that ends with a pretty bow wrapped around it, this is a film that leads to many questions about an issue that is very important in a beautiful country. This movie hits and it hits hard be prepared because most people that like "happily ever afters" is not part of that selected audience that needs to see this movie.

gradyharp MISS BALA is a strong film from Mexico (apparently based on a true account of the unending drug war focused in Tijuana produced by actors Gael Garcia Bernal and Diego Luna and James Russo who has a role in the film as a corrupt DEA agent) - a film that is unafraid to uncover the ruthless activities by the drug cartels, the Mexican police, and the US DEA agents in the endless battle against drug trafficking. It hits like a punch in the stomach and remains in the memory long after the credits have rolled.Laura Guerrero (Stephanie Sigman) dreams of being a beauty queen in the Miss Baja California Beauty Pageant, a position that will raise her out of her meager existence as a dress maker in the outskirts of Tijuana where she lives with her little brother and father. She and her best friend Zuzu work their way into the line of women vying for the contest title. After winning entry into the pageant Laura reluctantly agrees to go to a sleazy nightclub with Zuzu. In the club's toilets she witnesses the covert entry of an organized drugs cartel led by Lino Valdez (Noe Hernandez). Lino is finds Laura to be attractive and smart, and allows her to escape. However, when Laura reports her missing friend Zuzu to a corrupt Mexican police officer, she finds herself delivered back into the hands of Lino, and entangled ever deeper in a vicious drugs war. She is used as a mule to transport drug money across the border, returning to full fledged gang war. Lino uses her physically and then keeps his promise to have her crowned Miss Baja California, but the title and the events that follow lead to horrors and alienation Laura never dreamed possible.Writers Mauricio Katz and writer/director Gerardo Naranjo push this expose of just how all consuming the drug traffic problem is at the border. It is terrifying and though Laura seems to be a helpless obeying victim throughout the tale, she represents just how futile it must be to attempt to stand against the atrocious crimes being committed. The power of the film is its willingness to show that both side of the war on drugs - gangs, police, DEA agents, and population - are at fault for allowing this outrage to continue. But business is business and the film hints at how hopeless the situation is. Stephanie Sigman emerges as an actress of importance and her part in this film will remain indelibly burned on the minds of the viewers. We should all see this film. Grady Harp

paul david I like foreign language films and this is right up there as one which can be enjoyed from beginning to end. It is a Mexican film in Spanish language with perfect subtitles in English on DVD.The story is of course about a young girl called Laura who has a dream of becoming a Beauty queen while also being a story about how she gets caught up and used in a drugs war.There is no doubt that Laura is portrayed as a very stubborn character and is presented with opportunities to escape from her dangerous situations but she is possessed of fear what might happen to her Father and Brother.She has seen that the Mexican police could not be trusted, so who could she trust? The film also illustrates how a drug cartel might also influence the outcome of a Beauty pageant to instill fear and control over one of its participants.Yes it is a little depressing but a riveting drama thriller to watch. Considering the subject matter, there is nothing graphically sexual and no outlandish bad language, there are a couple of sex scenes but the filming generally is carefully considered and respectable.