Sujo

The likes of Breaking Bad and Ozark were explicit in their depiction of the barbarity of the Mexican cartels. What hasn’t been so well featured are the effects these cartels have at a local level and on the people in those areas, far away from the kingpins featured in the aforementioned programmes.

Sujo (Juan Jesús Varela) is eight when his father is murdered by the cartel, and then has a price on his head as he could possibly seek vengeance when he grows old enough to understand.

An atypical childhood worsened when as he’s pulled out of school by his aunt Nemesia (Yadira Pérez) and forbidden from going to it or the town. His only company are his other aunt Rosalía (Karla Garrido), and cousins Jai (Alexis Varela) and Jeremy (Jairo Hernandez).

As he gets older things start to fall into place. He inherits his father’s car, which has to remain hidden and learns about the cartel’s operations as his cousin Jeremy starts to get involved. Indeed Sujo goes on a job with Jeremy and learns that his father was despised as traitor by the gang.

Nemesia eventually packs Sujo off to Mexico City where he gets a hard manual job and begins to study befriending and then tutored by lecturer Susan (Sandra Lorenzano). But even here he can’t escape: his past seems tied to his destiny.

A slowburn study of character and society that director/writers Astrid Rondero and Fernanda Valadez carefully build for over two hours and four chapters. It’s a bleak story of almost absolute poverty in the Mexican regions contrasting with the more comfortable life in the city, though at entry level that is still hard but at least there’s a chance of clean life.

The blight of the cartel in the small town means that regardless of education – which Sujo says he misses – criminality appears to be the go-to career for many. The alure of notoriety and relatively easy money attracts Jeremy, who is well aware of the risks.

Rondero and Valadez rarely depict violence preferring to instil an undercurrent of fear that pervades the community at every level. That is clear when Nemesia and her sister Rosalia (Karla Garrido) make an arrangement with the gang regarding Sujo. Having lived with these people all their lives they have earned some leeway from the cartel but not to push it.

Varela is outstanding in a complex role of a character with conflicting pressures and ideals. There’s a lot of dialogue and the directors give the excellent cast plenty of space to work and the greyness of the rural setting develops a more naturalistic, if depressing experience.

There’s a supernatural element stemming from Nemesia’s reputation as a witch though not overplayed and serves more to symbolise the deep malaise that overhangs the town.

Sujo will be in UK cinemas from 13 December 2024.