La Segua on AllMovie

This rare Costa Rican story takes place at the end of the colonial era and involves superstition, possession (of sorts), and brujas or female sorcerers -- a misplaced feminism that takes over to make life dangerous for the people who incur the wrath of the local "witch." Encarnacion (Isabel Hidalgo) is a beautiful villager and Petronila (Blanca Guerra) is her jealous, and evil nemesis. When Petronila's love interest, a fetching young Spanish lieutenant, starts to fall for Encarnacion, Petronila gets even by simply destroying his sanity with a vile potion. A similar episode occurs when another stranger comes to look for gold and gets involved with Encarnacion. Finally, Petronila sees Encarnacion herself as the basic problem and begins to delude her with suggestions that she -- Encarnacion -- is actually a "segua" or a female spirit that attacks men. Although the topic is unusual for staid European or American audiences, this story of superstition and magic fits well with a vast substratum of beliefs throughout Latin America.