Julia Zarate ( Martina Gusman) is a bleached blond, apparently abused and depressive two dimensional student. She is convicted for the murder of her lover ( and the assault on his boyfriend) and enters prison pregnant.
In a somewhat meandering and absorbing story we witness Julia's development from sullen teen into a fierce mother with purpose, and as she heads towards the time that her son is four years old ( the age when prisoners' children have to leave incarceration) , the audience prepares themselves for the inevitable tragedy.
Lion's Den is an interesting film as it wrong foots the audience consistently. We don't know if Julia is guilty or innocent, we know nothing of her past, her relationship with the resourceful horse faced lag Marta ( the excellent Laura Garcia) does not let her down at the crucial moment and the expected downbeat ending just does not materialise..
Prison and Motherhood are seen to transform Julia....and despite the awful storyline...there are flashes of hope and humour in this otherwise bleak but compelling story .
8/10
Hmmmm, sounds like it might be interesting enough. ;-)
ReplyDeleteHaven't seen this one, John; sounds good. Will catch it on DVD.
ReplyDeletesounds good...you write the best reviews, even for folks like me who don't get to watch very many good movies on screen(because our stupid small-town theatre won't carry them).
ReplyDelete