Backyard

I went to see Backyard not really knowing what the film was about. I briefly read the synopsis and the time fit with my schedule. I'm glad it did. I felt this film was very powerful and emotional. The fact that is was based on true events makes it even more powerful in my opinion.
In the border town of Juarez, Mexico during the mid 90's, hundreds of women were being murdered and dumped in the desert. The story follows two completely different women. The first is Captain Blanca Bravo, a new arrival on the police force in Juarez. Bravo has a tough attitude and becomes increasingly concerned about the deaths of these women.

Captain Bravo faces sexism in the workplace as a female officer in a male field. Her superior comments on how she lets her emotions get in the way of doing her job after she let suspects get away when she stopped to help a recently raped and tortured victim that was dumped in the desert. Later in the film her male partner was offered the Chief's position even though he was in a lower position then Bravo. When he asked why him and not the Captain, he was told he would be passed over if he was so worried about her job.

The second female character is Juanita. She just arrived from another town to live with her cousin. She gets a job at the local factory and sets off to find herself a boyfriend. Or two. Without the hassles of parental figures, she is free to live her life as she pleases.
Juanita must pass a physical exam prior to being hired at the factory. After the exam the doctor gives her birth control pills. When she tells him she is not sexually active, he tells her that she must take a test monthly to prove she is not pregnant. Failing this test will result in immediate termination. By giving her the pills and assuming that she is sexually active without asking her, makes it seem like she is only a sexual object.

Once on the factory floor, Juanita soon finds that company policy is not in favor of the worker. They only get one bathroom break and a ten minute lunch per shift. To ease work strife, she and her cousin hit the local night club. She meets a boy and he jokes that her cousin found a new boyfriend. Apparently if you are seen dancing with a guy, you are now his property. Juanita and this guy become an item and she eventually ends up in his bed. She was the aggressor in this situation so when a few weeks pass and she has moved on to the next guy, she disses him in public. His homeboys convince him that his manhood was disrespected and his must get revenge.

The murders escalate and Captain Bravo works with a local domestic violence worker on identifying some of the victims. The story hits the newspaper in full force at first then are reduced to the crime sheet section on the back pages. When they try to get media coverage it is stopped by the Governor and Chief of police so the factory and foreign businessman don't receive bad publicity. Also, the town of Juarez was being seen as a murderous town where femicide was in full swing. Apparently this was bad for tourism. This could be seen as media backlash. They eventually get a major paper in the US to cover the story. A local Juarez talk radio host also has strong opinions on the way the story and events have unfolded. It ultimately results in the firing of Captain Bravo (sorry for the spoiler)

Masculinity runs wild in this film as does the objectification of women and they way they are treated as animals and as nothings to the men that rape and kill them. No one even flinches when a new body is found. They have gotten so use to it, it has become part of the culture.

I would recommend this movie but be forewarned of the strong graphic scenes.

Photos:
http://ferdyonfilms.com/Backyard%208.jpg
http://ferdyonfilms.com/Backyard%20Bravo.jpg
http://passionforcinema.com/wp-content/uploads/backyard.jpg
http://www.chicagofilmfestival.com/resources/images/movie_stills/Backyard.jpg

Father and Guns!

Father and Guns is a Canadian film about a father and son cop team that must go undercover to save one of their own. Sounds easy but for this team nothing comes easy excepts insults and abuse. Jacques and his son Marc are constantly at each others throats which makes this daring rescue even harder.

The Blood Machine Biker Gang has kidnapped Marc's best friend and fellow officer. They hatch a plan which involves getting the bikers' lawyer, Charles Berube, to turn states evidence. The police force learn through surveillance that the lawyer and his son Tim, who has suicidal thoughts are off on a father and son therapy retreat in the great outdoors.

Marc and his father are instructed to infiltrate the therapy retreat as father and son who need to work on their relationship. They don't have to do much acting. Jacques never thinks his son is good enough and Marc is insecure and fails to pull the trigger when the pressure is on. Literally and figuratively. He failed to shoot at the van the bikers' used to kidnap his best friend and his girlfriend just dumped him siting he "lacked meat".

This film has several of the concepts we learned in IDS 101. It is noticeable right from the start that masculinity will have a prominent role in this movie. Jacques and Marc are always trying to prove who is better at everything. Marc is the top rated marksmen but his father wants him behind a desk. He is only the best on paper. Marc is jealous that his father is a well liked and respected man and is always the topic of conversation. There is a scene during therapy where the counselor instructs Marc to tell his father his feelings. When Marc says that he hates that every conversation or topic is about his father... Jacques gives out a primal scream that could be heard for miles. The counselor immediately starts commenting on how wonderful it was and on and on until the point where Marc is like, "what about me?"

Sexism rears it's ugly head when the men are talking at dinner. The topic is basically where a woman's place should be. In the kitchen or the bedroom. Ageism also squeaks in when the sons instruct their fathers on the ways of the modern woman and her sexual freedom. They imply that old dogs can't learn new tricks.

A few of the therapies involve mud wrestling where masculinity and testosterone is is high form and regression back to infants where one of the father and son teams are shown suckling. I'm not sure what class theme or concepts that falls under but it got quite the reaction from the audience.

The relationship between Charles, the lawyer, and Tim, his son was that of anger and resentment. Tim feels unloved and unwanted and Charles feels Tim is too much of a sissy. Tim expresses his emotions by openly crying while Charles is cold and unemotional. It turns out in the end that Charles was similar to his son at a young age and was forced to man up. Again, men are seen as being masculine if they are emotionless, scared of nothing, and burly.

I don't want to give away the film but it was definitely worth watching and I can't wait to enjoy it again. Oh, it definitely doesn't meet the Bechdel Test for Women. There was only one women character with a name but she and Marc only talked about their relationship.

Go see it! Who knew Canadians could be funny?

Photos:
http://www.criterionpic.com/CPL/images/lcl_fathersandguns_w130-3L.jpg
http://www.criterionpic.com/CPL/images/lcl_fatherandguns_p200.jpg
http://www.tribute.ca/tribute_objects/images/movies/De_pere_en_flic/depereenflic7.jpg