Los Motivos De Luz (1985)
Directed by Felipe Cazals
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Synopsis by Eleanor Mannikka
This slow-paced drama wears the appearance of a documentary to better put across its message of desperation among the poverty-stricken denizens of Mexico's worst barrios. A mother of four (Martha Aura) has been arrested for strangling her children to death. Two social workers spend time with the murderess and her neighbors, grilling them to try to find out why such a universally heinous crime was committed. As conditions in prison and in the slums are brought to the fore, the question almost answers itself though not quite. Everyone in these barrios is desperate, though not everyone murders their children.