Madres Parent Guide

Diana (Ariana Guerra) and her husband Beto (Tenoch Huerta) have just moved from Los Angeles to a small town where Beto landed a job in farm management. The move is stressful for Diana, who is pregnant and would prefer to give birth in a major hospital in L.A. But there is a local pregnancy clinic and she decides that it’s good enough. But, within days of moving in, Diana is struggling with anxiety and has developed a strange rash and chronic headaches. Now Diana is worried about her health, her baby’s wellbeing, and local rumors about a curse that afflicts pregnant women…

I can’t really talk about the significant parts of this film without major plot spoilers, so if you’re planning to watch this movie, consider yourself warned: I’m going to give away most of the ending. This is your last chance to turn back.

The true horror in Madres is that it’s based in part on a true story. In the 1970s, Latina women in the Los Angeles area were sterilized against their will. This abuse culminated in a federal class-action suit (Madrigal vs. Quilligan), in which ten of the women alleged that Dr. James Quilligan had sterilized them either without consent or through coercion. The women lost their case and, to make matters worse, Judge Jesse Curtis ruled that the doctor was not criminally responsible and claimed that he had acted in the interest of the patients.

One of the great role films play in our society is bringing stories like this to light. Unfortunately, using a horror story format hurts more than it helps. Marketing this as a horror movie and introducing supernatural elements detracts from the legitimacy of the issue. It also makes for some weird tonal problems – you go from boredom at a played-out curse story to moral outrage at an appalling abuse of both medical authority and judicial power. It’s not a fun ride.

Remarkably, the film itself is fairly tame by horror movie standards. Amazon rated it 18+, but I’m at a loss to understand why, apart from the upsetting nature of the subject matter. With very little profanity, brief violence, no sexual content, and negligible drinking this ought to be a PG-13 horror film. That’s not to say it’s an easy watch by any stretch of the imagination, both because of the poor structure and difficult real-world issues, but at least it isn’t going out of its way to shock you. The story does that just fine all on its own.