La virgen de los sicarios
This week’sfilm is entitled La virgen de los sicarios which incorporates the violence in crime that is considered to benormal in everyday life in Colombia. The main characters in this movie present ahomosexual relationship which reflect the troubles their relationship has inthe country of Colombia. In the film we see what appears to be many innocentbystanders that seem to become targets to those who felt they have been cheatedor wronged by another criminal bystander. The film incorporates the surrealfeel amongst the other citizens of Colombia where the unusual seen to us of dead bodies isnot out of the ordinary for them. Ricardo Vargas stated in his essay the positioncrime has upon on an individual’s everyday life. Regardless of age, status, orgender crime is part of everyday events. And as I stated above we see this reflectionbeing shown in the film as we watch an innocent victim being taken out of hisvehicle by a criminal and when the victim refuses to give up his car he is thenshot to death, or a break-out shooting into the open public. We even hearFernando stating to a Colombian native asking her why she is freaking out whenthese cold acts of murder are not unusual in the film.
The article entitled War in Colombia states that when a countryhas a government that is not strong and can not uphold on its own, crime andviolence are easily able to take over since punishment is hardly ever used tothose who commit unlawful crimes. In this article Vargas also states that thefilm is after the Medellin cartel riots showing that these rival co- workers are going to whit’s end in fighting oneanother for reasons that have nothing to do with why the riots began in thefirst place.
Hylton discusses the history of violence as dated back in the 1900’swith crime being involved with the peasants during war watching hundreds ofsoldiers dying at war. The linkage from violence during war to violencecurrently in Colombia shows the unusual behavior of watching someone die infront of you without showing any shocked reaction as natural and unfamiliar inlife.
The film does a great job of representing the true life of Colombiansan the fear the live with amongst their homes, family, and friends. The realityof crime that we don’t seem to think about in other countries that affects thelives of the innocent in Colombia and other countries that have a weakgovernment.
