This documentary presents the true story of María Elena Durán Morales, a young Rarámuri woman from the Tarahumara Mountains, a wild and biodiverse region in northwestern Mexico. Her three-year-old son Jorge was hit by a truck driven by a white woman who denies all responsibility. This fateful day is reconstructed through testimonies from María Elena herself as well as the other residents of the area who describe the racism, inequality and harsh conditions they must live with on a daily basis. Unable to tolerate living in a place charged with so many painful memories of her son, María Elena moves to Chihuahua where she feels anonymous and invisible, but also free from the scrutiny of her community, which goes so far as to blame her for her own son’s death. María Elena sets off on a search for justice through conventional legal channels as well as the National Human Rights Commission, but discrimination and corruption obstruct the due course of justice until María Elena finds solace elsewhere.

Vera R. Coleman

Arizona State University