Format: DVD from Sycamore Public Library on Kid #1’s TV.
Every year, I spend about a week in St. Louis petsitting my daughter’s dog. While I generally have to work (and this year it happened during a finals week), it’s also a chance for me to catch up on movies. I showed up with more than a dozen discs, knowing that once finals week was over, I’d have two or three days in a strange city without a lot to do. Sure, there’s stuff to do in St. Louis, but the dog does need tending, and he can’t be alone for too long, so a couple of movies per day was on the docket. Of the many I brought with me, Tigers are not Afraid (or Vuelven) is one that I was most interested in.
Tigers are not Afraid takes place in Mexico in the heart of the war between drug cartels. Thousands of people have been killed or gone missing, leaving behind thousands of children forced to fend for themselves or become victims. In terms of the narrative, this is clearly a film that has connections to City of God, but there are also real connections to The Devil’s Backbone, not merely because of it being in Spanish. This is a film that is very much a dark fairy tale, a grittier version of what Guillermo del Toro does best, creating a connection to Pan’s Labyrinth as well.
