As you can probably expect from a film entitled Dark Suns (Soleils Noirs), this is a very serious documentary. It offers the viewer a very harrowing and intense experience. Over two and a half hours, we follow director Julien Elie into the rabbit hole of Mexico’s darkest secret. Over the decades, thousands of women, journalists and students have vanished without a trace.
This is so commonplace in Mexico that everyone seems to have been affected by it. The police seem reluctant to assist, and perhaps it’s not to do with the sheer numbers of missing people, but perhaps those in charge may know more than they are letting on.
“Over two and a half hours, we follow director Julien Elie into the rabbit hole of Mexico’s darkest secret.
Dark Suns is an epic documentary, that is divided into six chapters. There is no singular focus or person that we follow. But rather a vast account of the epidemic, coming from a range of different individuals. The documentary begins by focusing on the kidnappings and murders of countless women in the Mexican cities of Juarez and Ecatepec. These femicides have plagued Mexico since the 1990s, but no answers or even concrete motives have been found.
As Elie attempts to unpick the femicides, he manages to uncover that the issue is far more widespread and spans the entirety of the country. We discover the horror stories of journalists being tortured by vegetable peelers, a kidnapped migrant and the sole survivor of a massacre walking over 10 miles for help. And a bus full of student activists going missing in the night as if the Earth opened up and swallowed them whole.
The film is shot in stark black and white. And coupled with its tight camera frame ratio, the viewer is left feeling like there’s no escape. Elie wants you to confront this issue whether you want to or not. The bleakness of the mise-en-scene helps present us with a version of Mexico in such a way that has rarely been captured on camera.
Elie stated in the Q&A session at Sheffield Documentary Film Festival that he wanted to take away the colour of Mexico. And go beyond the traditional depiction, usually presented by the tourist boards and the mainstream media. The Mexico we see in Dark Suns looks like an alien landscape, cold and harsh.
“The Mexico we see in Dark Suns looks like an alien landscape, cold and harsh.”
Dark Suns is deeply unsettling to watch, but it’s a documentary that must be watched. Elie doesn’t reveal too much regarding the murders, but the subject of death is treated in such a matter-of-fact manner. Reflecting how this country has been changed as a result of this epidemic of missing individuals.
In one very heavy-going scene, we are introduced to a man looking for the remains of his brother. He discovers a shoe that contains the skeletal remains of a foot. He turns to the camera and says, “This could have been my brother. But the shoes tell me this isn’t my brother. It’s just one more of the 32,000 who have disappeared.”
It is the people that we follow in this documentary that manages to bring life to this harsh environment. Elie reveals the strength and determination of this nation’s people. There is the story of a mother, Silvia Banda Pedroza, going on buses around Chihuahua and handing out fans and water bottles to travelers for free. Requesting that if they see her daughter, Fabiola Valenzuela Banda, who went missing seven years prior, that they contact the authorities.
“This is far too widespread to be a conspiracy theory.”
In a conversation with Elie, Silvia implies that the federal and state government members may be the ones responsible for many of these murdered women. She details how her daughter was being tracked by a policeman boyfriend, and pointing to the rise in femicides after a profusion of agents was deployed in Chihuahua. Many others who share their experiences in this documentary also imply that the government may be involved in multiple cases. This is far too widespread to be a conspiracy theory.
Overall, Dark Suns may be too heavy and depressing for others to stomach. Its run-time may also be off-putting for some. There is no real conclusion by the end of the documentary. Many of these cases are still open and sadly many families may never get the answers they so rightly deserve. It’s a powerful, engaging and epic documentary, that will hopefully help bring some much-needed attention to this tragedy.
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