Filmmaker Juan Pablo González didn’t tip his hat to Hitchcock’s famed Rear Window, but he could have. In Hitchcock’s classic thriller, we, like star Jimmy Stewart, see the murder and mayhem through the title namesake apartment window. In comparison, Rear Window is mere child's play to the terror we experience only through the eyes of the speaker seen in his auto’s rearview mirror.
LAS NUBES is anything but fiction. It is the real-word terror TODAY of those in a Mexican town overrun by evil drug cartel villains. We see enough of our narrator to note his silver hair. We know he had to sneak his young adult daughter to the plane in the middle of the night, so she could escape sex slavery. We learn how it becomes everyday for the drug cartel thugs to take wares from his store and eat his food without paying.
The landscape is blurred as he drives along. We learn he no longer wears a watch in a desperate bid to find a stress reliever. We see only his eyes, and the everyday nature of his terror comes into focus as his words tell the tale.
An American today will likely superimpose images of children in cages from their mind’s eye onto this brilliant rearview mirror-only cinematography. Powerful! You too may feel that going forward you will now superimpose LAS NUBES’ rearview mirror vision of terror on the horrific border headlines of our times.
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Photos courtesy of FLYING FILM FESTIVAL
About the Author: Amy Munice
Amy Munice is Editor-in-Chief and Co-Publisher of Picture This Post. She covers books, dance, film, theater, music, museums and travel. Prior to founding Picture This Post, Amy was a freelance writer and global PR specialist for decades—writing and ghostwriting thousands of articles and promotional communications on a wide range of technical and not-so-technical topics.
Amy hopes the magazine’s click-a-picture-to-read-a-vivid-account format will nourish those ever hunting for under-discovered cultural treasures. She especially loves writing articles about travel finds, showcasing works by cultural warriors of a progressive bent, and shining a light on bold, creative strokes by fledgling artists in all genres.
