To Own on DVD: Mariposa Negra

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Movie Selection: Mariposa Negra (Black Butterfly)

Latin American movies have often been excluded from discussions about foreign films: people flock to watch French or German films over Mexican or Brazilian films.

This Hispanic Heritage Month, To Own on DVD will be reviewing movies from Peru: the fifth most populated Latin American country with a rich history of the Incan empire and home to one of the 7 Wonders of the World, Machu Picchu.

Fast Play

For historical context, Mariposa Negra takes place in Peru's capital Lima in the year 2000 amid the authoritarian Alberto Fujimori's presidency: an era of systemic corruption, assassinations, and human rights violation under Fujimori's command.

The movie begins with the protagonist Angela sitting on the curb outside a garage of an unmarked building. Through a voicemail, a voice tells Angela to "tell her and Guido's true story, not like the stories she usually writes."

Angela begins narrating as she types on a computer: She is a journalist at the "El Papi" who is introduced drinking at a bar then having a threesome in a car. She gets a call from her boss Osman who she has an affair with.

Angela's narration introduces Gabriela, a school teacher who believes in education helping Peru's political future. She is engaged with a judge Guido who became a judge to fight against Peru's corruption within the system. While commuting on a field trip to the Nazca Lines, Gabriela listens to the voicemail of her fiance telling her about the newly hatched butterflies: the first of 1000 they want released at their wedding.

Gabriela then receives a message about her fiance having been just assassinated in their own bed and begins hitchhiking back to Lima. Meanwhile, Angela is called to report on the assassination where she takes photos of the body to publish in her sensationalized article.

At the morgue, Angela waits alongside other reporters for more information on the assassination as Gabriela arrives to confirm his identity. There, Angela hears a rumor about Guido being gay despite his Christianity.

Gabriela is comforted by her grandma with Alzheimer's and the caretakers of her butterfly sanctuary. Gabriela's grandmother tells her about the titular black butterfly that visited them the night of Guido's assassination

At his funeral, Guido's tomb at burial wall is enclosed as Gabriela replays his last voicemail message to herself. Meanwhile, Angela gets documents from Osman to add to her article on Guido's death.

While walking home to her apartment, Gabriela notices the "El Papi" newspaper's front page story titled "F***** Judge Dies in Gay Orgy."

Enraged, she confronts Osman at the office of "El Papi" for allowing the sensationalized story to be published as Angela watches. Gabriela gets kicked out, then she waits for Osman outside the office until nighttime where Angela finds her.

Angela tells Gabriela she wrote the article under the orders of Osman. As Angela walks away, Gabriela stops her and proposes an investigation on who assassinated Guido and who gave Osman the cover up story. She gives Angela her number as they leave.

Angela goes to a dinner with Osman and his associates where she learns about "El Papi's" connections with the government, including the head of Peru's National Intelligence Service Vladimiro Montesinos. She meets with Gabriela in a bar where the two conclude that Montesinos had orchestrated the assassination to stop the anti-corruption Guido for not complying with their demands.

Angela knows Montesinos saves he films of his assassinations, so she takes Gabriela to the man with the tapes. He shows them the tapes of Guido's torture then assassination where they spot the main assassin's full face.

Knowing the bar he frequents, Angela take Gabriela to find the man. Using the fake name, Gabriela ends up finding the man where she initiates a hook up that turns into a murder as she kills him with a switch blade. Gabriela gets confirmation that Montesinos was the one who orchestrated the assassination, then Angela takes her home so Gabriela can shower the blood off.

Gabriela shares her plan of killing Montesinos to avenge her late husband then committing suicide. Then, the two women sleep in the same bed.

The following day, Angela talks with Osman about interviewing Montesinos, but Osman turns down the request and instead shares details on how Montesinos and his soldiers frequent the Hotel America where they have sex with their "hostesses". He also tells her that a principal named Dotty finds girls for the hotel.

With the information from Angela, Gabriela goes to Dotty's school under another fake name where meets Dotty. The two leave to have dinner at a restaurant as Dotty asks intimate details. Leaving the restaurant, Dotty tries to kiss Angela, which gives her the idea to start an affair with Dotty to get hired at the hotel to be in closer proximity to Montesinos. They have sex as Gabriela takes another shower.

The butterfly caretakers, Gabriela's friends, and Angela's narration share how different Gabriela has become as she has quit her job as a teacher, started hanging out with the writer who sensationalized her fiance's death, and had just been hired as a receptionist at Hotel America.

When Dotty leaves Lima for a business trip, Gabriela convinces her boss to let her become a hostess for the upcoming hotel party. He lets Gabriela become a hostess under the impression that her and Dotty's affair came to an end. During the party, she gets a glimpse at Montesinos.

Dotty finds out about her becoming a hostess and threatens to get her fired, but she was popular with the soldiers who rallied for the hotel to keep her.

Eventually, Montesinos asks for a private evening with Gabriela. Angela helps Gabriela into her final dress and travel to the unmarked building. Angela reveals she does not know what happened in the building.

She imagines two scenarios: one where Gabriela has the confidence to murder Montesinos and takes a shower in a bleach white bathroom, and one where Gabriela is nervous and her murder plan fails.

In her final narration, Angela reveals that she waited outside the building for hours and that there was no record of Gabriela entering the building.

The film closes on a shot of Angela bringing flowers to Guido's grave as the scene pulls back on the lot's empty graves: one of which right next to Guido's final resting place.

Special Features

Both characters demonstrate the two mental states civilians under corrupt authoritarian governments develop as Mariposa Negra critiques Peru's government.

Angela's consistency as a depressive alcoholic also communicates the mentality civilians need to survive: numb your emotions to not be driven to care about injustice to live a comfortable enough day-by-day.

Gabriela's transformation from innocent school teacher engaged with a judge to manipulative murderer who weaponizes her sexuality highlights the issues of Peru's authoritarian regime: justice is not served by the corrupt political systems, so civilians need to be equally as corrupted to get their justice.

They contrast each other to encompass the diaspora of civilians who want to live under a caring government. Despite their want for survival, Angela does not feel alive, and Gabriela does not want to live.

Because of this, Gabriela and Angela got very close over the course of the story and felt very intimate with one another. There is a queer dimension to their relationship, which sadly goes unexplored as Gabriela gets involved with Dotty instead.

One of Mariposa Negra's weaker points is Angela's narration: the narration is used well in establishing both Angela's personality, her attitude towards Gabriela, and Gabriela's backstory. Beyond that, the narration interrupts Mariposa Negra with information that could organically emerge from the story rather than told to the audience.

The final shot's impact hits hard by the end of Mariposa Negra. Presumably in Lima's Cementerio Presbítero Matías Maestro, the empty slots next to Guido's spot remains barren as Gabriela's body was never recovered. The other graves are like Guido's who was assassinated by the Fujimori administration. The barren graves are like Gabriela whose deaths were covered up and never disclosed to the public because of the corruption in the government.

Ending Credits

Mariposa Negra is a great examination of people's grief within an authoritarian government. People born outside the time and place of Mariposa Negra can still recognize the struggle that both Gabriela and Angela have.

Furthermore, Mariposa Negra represents Peru's culture as notable cultural icons like Inca Kola and the Nazca Lines are depicted or mentioned.

Both Angela and Gabriela demonstrate the mental capacities people develop in the face of a corrupt government: whether you recognize that in your own life reveals something.

Coming Soon to Own on DVD

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