Miss Bala Parent Guide

It’s a bit of a surprise to attend a film titled ”Miss Bala” and discover that there is no character with that name. But in Spanish, “bala” means “bullet” and the reason for the movie’s name becomes clear far too soon. Miss Bala stars Gina Rodriguez as Gloria, a makeup artist from L.A. who goes down to Tijuana to help her friend Suzu (Cristina Rodlo) in the Miss Baja California beauty contest. Shortly after arriving, Gloria witnesses a nightclub shooting and in all the chaos, Suzu disappears. When Gloria turns to the police to find her friend, she becomes embroiled in a world of cartels, drugs, and violence. Led by Lino (Ismael Cruz Cordova), the La Estrella gang forces Gloria to commit several crimes, promising each time that her friend will be returned as a reward. At the same time, Gloria is picked up by the DEA (Drug Enforcement Administration) and told to inform on Lino or face life in prison. With all these competing forces at work, will Gloria be able to find her friend? And what will the consequences be for her unwillingness to abandon Suzu?

While this certainly sounds like a mile-a-minute action thriller, Miss Bala is actually fairly insipid. Despite an intense performance from Gina Rodriguez, the film feels almost soulless. The script is very predictable, and I was able to forecast most plot twists a half an hour in advance. While predictability doesn’t preclude enjoyment, this production doesn’t generate enough excitement to compensate for a bland script. Oddly enough, Miss Bala has a successful pedigree: it is an English-language remake of a 2011 Mexican film of the same title. The original Miss Bala clearly hit its mark: that version was shortlisted as the Mexican entry for the “Best Foreign Film” Academy Award and was positively received at the 2011 Cannes Film Festival. Sadly, something has been lost in translation.

Given this film’s genre, it comes as a pleasant surprise that content issues are relatively mild. While there is a fair bit of gun violence, people are not shown with graphic injuries, and most of the gunfights occur in dark areas at night, making it even more difficult to really see what’s going on. There is little explicit sexual content, although the protagonist seems to spend a lot of time getting groped by the local creeps. Obviously with this plot, there will be some illegal substances shown and discussed, but they are never used on screen and no one is shown under the influence of those substances.

It’s not just content where Miss Bala overturns genre expectations. Most action thrillers generate edge-of-your-seat tension. But the only real emotion that I felt during the movie was apathy. Miss Bala lacks the heart to stand out from its predictable screenplay. Other than Gina Rodriguez’s compelling performance, the best that can be said for the film is that with a short runtime of 1 hour and 44 minutes, it doesn’t stick around long enough to outstay its welcome.