Analysis/Opinion Man on Fire demonstrates hope in the brink of catastrophe.

Rating: 10/10 (7 April 2020)

Man on Fire demonstrates hope in the brink of catastrophe. Creasy is depressed and an alcoholic when he gets introduced to the stable, religious, and happy Ramos family. He gets resistant to establish a connection with Pita, but as the plot unfolds he inevitably develops a very strong bond with her. Dakota Fanning does a brilliant performance as the sassy, know-it-all, tender kid that wants to have friends. The connection between Creasy and Pita gets excellently driven by the mentor/father type of relationship, and the movie immediately showcases the inadequacies that Samuel Ramos had as an authoritative father.
The transformation of Creasy is clearly displayed on screen as he starts to get closer to god and less to his addiction. At the peak of Creasy's stability is when Pita gets abducted. This is when we get to know the destructive side of Creasy. The death artist as he is christened by Rayburn. He created killing people into an art, by instituting justice in a broken system that was Mexico's judicial system. The movie crudely shows the revenge scenes where Creasy goes full sanguinary on the judiciales. Those moments were an exciting addition to the whole revenge story that was being built from the start of the movie. Oddly enough you start to feel that they deserve a cruel punishment for abducting and killing a child.
The religious references were also a maybe necessary adornment to the gloomy and gory atmosphere that was created. Saint Jude of desperate and lost causes was a beautiful memento that Pita and Creasy shared where they connected, and he finally was able to rest in peace after getting some redemption. At the beginning of the movie Creasy asked Rayburn if he believed there was any forgiveness for what they did, and at the end of the movie Creasy found his forgiveness by saving Pita and being protected by Saint Jude.
The movie gives a bit of bad reputation to Mexico, but it was an interesting take on Mexican corruption and how enmeshed it is in government systems, to the point that the police works together with the criminals to abduct children. The first scene that we see in the movie is the declaration that there is one kidnapping every 60 minutes in Latin America and that 70% of the people do not survive. That is enough statistics to merit a story that emphasizes the problem that exists in Latin America.