We are already used to films coming from Mexico that shock us with their realism and portrayal of the terrifying everyday life there, and one of them is “Las elegidas” or “The Chosen Ones”. The disturbing drama by screenwriter and director David Pablos premiered in the Different View section of the Cannes festival, and later triumphed in the selection for Mexican film of the year. It won the Pablos and the Ariel awards for the best screenplay and direction, and from the very beginning “Los elegidas” starts shocking, disturbing, terrifying and does not stop. 15-year-old Ulysis and 14-year-old Sofia (the outstanding Nancy Talamantes) are two young people in a relationship. At least that’s how it seems at first, until we understand what Ulysses’ family does and what his task is.
Ulysses’ father and brother run a prostitution ring and have an illegal brothel where they forcibly keep girls and women literally as sex slaves. Threats to kill them and their families keep them in captivity and force them into prostitution, and Sofia is the first girl that Ulysses managed to bring into that circle. But young Ulysses will fall in love with a girl who will end up as a prostitute thanks to him, and although he is consumed by what he has done and is furious that he has to do it, he simply does not seem to see a way out of this vicious circle. However, a small way out for him and Sofia will be revealed when his father suggests that he find another girl for the brothel instead, and the desperate kid is convinced that everything will be wonderful and wonderful once he finds a new victim and thus rescues Sofia.
And just like most of these modern Mexican films, what is most disturbing and terrifying is the realism with which everything is presented here, and the viewer must be clear from the beginning that this can hardly be a completely fictional story, but something that certainly happened, probably still is happening. It is shocking, tragic and cruel when we understand how this stalking of girls and women works and then manipulating them to turn them into sexual slaves. It’s equally creepy when we see Ulysses’ family acting like it’s the most normal thing. How outwardly they lead seemingly ordinary lives and as if their work is something completely normal.
It is suspected that the police also know what this family is doing, because it is simply impossible to run such a business without finding out, but no one pays too much attention to it. And while the police are probably well paid, the neighbors from whom Sofia will try to find help in escaping are in mortal fear of Ulysses’ family, and no one even thinks of helping her or any of the other girls who are being held captive. Although “Las elegidas” shocks mostly with realism and believability, Pablos also showed that he is an author with a lot of sense and style, because he spared us explicit depictions of the horrors experienced by Sofia. In those moments, the camera focuses on her face, and the young actress who embodied her and for whom this was her first role, is great and on her face we can really read everything she feels about the situation in which she found herself.