Jayro Bustamente’s War Crimes Film, ‘La Llorona’, Reckons with Crushing Guilt
Bustament’s Efraín Ríos Montt-inspired
La Llorona reimagines the Latin American folk tale of a woman mourning her children along the banks of the river where they drowned.
La Llorona
6 August 2020 (US, Shudder)| 30 August 2019 (Venice Film Festival)
War criminals tend to act frail when prosecuted for their atrocities. In Jayro Bustamente’s film,
La Llorona (
The Weeping Woman), fictional General Enrique Monteverde (Julio Díaz) breaks into an explosive coughing fit when the guilty verdict is announced at his trial for leading a real-life genocidal campaign during Guatemala’s all-too-recent past. By casting himself as the victim, the moment is stripped from the jubilant, colorfully shrouded Maya Ixil women in the courtroom to see justice finally being served.
Scene from La Llarona, about a retired military commander facing charges of genocide and wide-scale violations of human rights. (Courtesy of Brigade Publicity)
Where lies the horror? This is the question followers of the genre might ask as they view La Llorona, the latest work of Guatemalan filmmaker Jayro Bustamante. After all, the legend of La Llorona, the wandering spirit of a weeping mother who, out of desperation, drowned her children, is an enduring horror figure in Central American folklore. Her modern incarnation also haunted the recent flick The Curse of La Llorona (directed by Michael Chaves), a spinoff from the hugely popular The Conjuring horror franchise.