Tigers Are Not Afraid (Vuelven)

The speculative film *Tigers Are Not Afraid* (*Vuelven* in Spanish) was written and directed by Issa López and premiered in September 2017. It tells a dark fairy tale of a gang of children and their perspective of what it means to survive as an orphan in Mexico during the violent drug war.

## The Author & Director - Issa Lopez

Issa López is a Mexican writer and director who for most of her career has been known for comedies until her fairy tale *Tigers Are Not Afraid*. Her favorite films, however, are ones that dive into darkness as she has quoted “I like a movie that starts bleak, gets bleaker, and then ends in hell”. She was both the writer, director, and executive producer of her film *Tigers Are Not Afraid* which has received rounds of praise, even from Stephen King. When premiered in Texas she was the first woman to receive the Best Horror Director Award [6].

López has always enjoyed the world of fantasy and has used it herself to escape as she herself became an orphan at age 8 after the death of her mother. Hours after hearing the news she recounts laughing and heading outside to play because “That’s who you are as a kid. That’s how you survive: though fantasy, through creating stories, through playing”. [2]

## Plot

The film itself follows the story of five children as they try and survive and escape from the Huascas, a violent cartel involved in the drug wars of Mexico.

In the beginning we see our protagonist Estrella be given 3 pieces of chalk, 3 wishes, from her teacher when the school becomes under attack. She is then seen using these wishes and the dark effects that come along with them. Throughout the film she is in search of her Mother who was one of the disappeared, and in a curious way she is represented by a voice whispering Estrella’s name and a dark figure that haunts her.

Looking for community, Estrella fights to join a gang of four orphaned boys, each dealing with the violence and horror differently. They don’t immediately accept her because she’s a girl and Shine the leader of the gang turns her away, but when she uses a wish to kill a cartel member, she gains Shine’s trust [5]. They go on living together in various places, using imagination to escape the horrors of the world. In particular, Shine tells the story of a Tiger who escaped his cage and wanders the streets and the youngest boy, Morro, is even seen carrying around a stuffed Tiger who later in the film is seen coming to life to help Estrella.

The five of them persist against the Huascas, escaping in fantasy as children do, but come face to face with death and the Huascas who come searching for their phone that Shine. They discover how important the phone is when they discover a video of the Huascas killing a woman that can be identified by the bracelet on her arm as Estrella’s mother.

## Analysis & Context

When children are afraid, they respond with fairy tales as seen in López’s own life and the characters in her film. This dark fantasy is built with Shine and Estrella as Peter Pan and Wendy figures. Even Morro carries a stuffed animal like one of the original lost boys! [7] Within the speculative world López creates, these fairy tales become even more literal. However, unlike peter pan escaping growing old, the gang of children in *Tigers Are Not Afraid* can never fully escape from the violence around them. This theme is drawn on as we see a trail of blood that follows Estrella throughout the film. No matter where they go, and what they believe – the violence persists, and they can’t escape it. “You don’t walk away from the dead in Mexican culture, because it will not let you look away. It will come behind you,” López reflects [2]. [3]

Not only can this film be viewed through the eyes of children, but also feminism as we see Estrella need to prove herself among Shine’s gang. This is also expanded when other gangs, using foul anti-female language, find out Shine sent a girl to kill the narco. Looking at the film’s theme of Mexico’s desaparecidos (now estimated to be at least 40,000 people [3]) are disproportionately female.

The end of the film can seem rather abrupt as it contrasts the former with Estrella walking through a door into a green and open field after seeing the body of her Mother, however it is in no way misplaced. Throughout the film we see the tension between Estrella and Shine as they speculate and hold on to hope when thinking of their parents, and the grief that comes with not knowing where they are and what horrible things may have happened to them. The ending is shown to reflect the freedom Estrella has of knowing where her disappeared mother is – a relief, majority do not receive.

## Sources

[1] https://www.tomatazos.com/peliculas/286159/Vuelven

[2] https://www.vulture.com/2019/08/tigers-are-not-afraid-director-issa-lpez-hardest-scene.html

[3] https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/nov/06/mexico-drug-wars-thousands-disappear-missing

[4] https://www.alexiafoundation.org/stories/innocence-assassinated-living-in-mexicos-drug-war

[5] https://www.pghcitypaper.com/pittsburgh/tigers-are-not-afraid-attempts-to-depict-the-realities-of-the-drug-war-in-mexico-through-fantasy/Content?oid=15818732

[6] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Issa\_L%C3%B3pez

[7] https://www.theverge.com/2019/9/5/20841541/tigers-are-not-afraid-review-mexican-drug-war-guillermo-del-toro-issa-lopez