“This might not be exactly how these events took place, but this is the only way I dare to tell it.”
Rita is a 2024 fantasy-horror-drama movie written and directed by Jayro Bustamante, the creative force behind La Llorona and Tremors. With the help of cinematographer Inti Briones, he tells the story of 13-year-old Rita (Giuliana Santa Cruz), who escapes her abusive parents, only to find herself imprisoned in a state-run institution for orphans and “problem-ridden” girls. Behind the locked doors of the institution, the horrors don’t stop. They grow.
The Angels, The Princesses and The Abusers
The whole story is viewed through Rita’s lens, which, despite her bravery and maturity, is still that of a scared and traumatized child. Thus, the narrative becomes a fairytale. A dark, desolate fairytale that only the Brothers Grimm might have written, had they lost their last shred of mercy they had for their characters. But a fairytale, nonetheless.
The children in the institution are grouped into “gangs” of fantastical creatures. There are The Wolfs, there are The Princesses – and Rita herself becomes an Angel. She stumbles through the hollow, depressing halls of the institution with her white wings. In a single shot, the image captures the story of innocence persevering in an evil world. She soon befriends some of the other Angels, most importantly Bebé (Alejandra Vásquez Carrillo) and Sulmi (Ángela Joana Quevedo). As their friendship grows stronger, so do the evil forces behind the Angels’ room door. The Witch lurking in the social worker’s office, William, the repulsive guard and the endlessly ignorant world out there gradually become more present threats.
Drawing the line
In Rita, it is impossible to draw the line between the real and the imagined. Bustamante does not feel the need to hold our hand and point it out, and it is this exact search for the line that adds to the suspense even more. Even fundamental visual elements, such as the costumes that the girls forced to wear, are often left unexplained or are only explained later in the movie. Rita is not a movie to be anxiously analyzed, it is a movie to be felt.
41
The scariest part of Rita is neither The Witch, nor the scenes of sexual harassment. It is the title card explaining that the movie is inspired by real-life events. Those took place in the Hogar Virgen de la Asunción orphanage, located just 25 kilometers south of Guatemala City. On the morning of 8th of March 2017, 41 young girls lost their lives in a tragedy that is all too painfully accurately portrayed in the movie. The real-life orphanage, often referred to as the City of Children, has had a long history of accusations and concerns raised against it, ranging from overcrowding and poor hygiene to missing children and sexual abuse. While a criminal case concerning the 41 untimely deaths was opened on the very same day they occurred, the legal process has been stalled by countless obstructions and delays, as well as corruption and discrimination accusations. We must all hope that one day the justice will be done and the perpetrators of the crimes committed on the morning of 8th of March 2017 will be punished. Until then, we will at least have Rita – a moving and strangely beautiful depiction of human bravery and resilience in the face of oppression and evil.
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