Madres-- My take on the movie with spoilers!

 

PLOT SUMMARY: Diana and Beto are expecting their first child. They move into a community and a new house where Diana begins to have terrifying visions of the woman who lived there before. 

There's nothing more horrific than realizing that there is an ugliness in the world that is not contained and one that grows continuously.

With all the movements taking place, one would think that there would be more tolerance and acceptance. Sadly, that is still not the case.

Until recently, there have been cases of people being forcefully sterilized and all to improve the genetic quality of the human population.  Till today, the victims of this forceful sterilization have not received justice. That's the ugliness of this society that many of us would be unaware of.

And then a movie comes along and points out the heinous crimes committed in a world we thought was safe and progressive.

Madres has a social and informative message and perhaps it should have remained that way instead of being presented as a horror movie because that is exactly where it falters.

MADRES Movie Plot 

We meet Diana and Beto who are moving to California. Diana is pregnant and though they are moving into a Spanish-speaking community, she doesn't speak Spanish.

She meets the neighbors and they give cryptic answers regarding children.  Only one of them has a child and Diana doesn't think it is odd. In fact, why don't the neighbors warn her of something heinous going on?

When her husband's boss gives her a jar of Agua Fresca which Diana takes gratefully.

Diana thinks nothing of it but later tells her husband she was offended when the others called her an outsider in Spanish.

Diana gets intrigued by the former house owner Teresa who has left behind her things including notes about pesticides.

A local, Anita, keeps warning her about evil but Diana feels it is better to keep her at arm's length but then reconsiders her friendship when she finds an eye hanging from the tree.

Diana has a few incidents which make her take trips to the hospital where she meets with a very trusting doctor.

MADRES Ending Explained with Spoilers!

Cutting to the chase, Diana finally begins to feel it is odd that the birth rate in the town is very low and wants to get to the bottom of it. She thinks it may be the pesticides but her husband Beto doesn't think so. When she is in the hospital, Beto discovers that it is the town doctor who has something to do with low fertility rates.

Soon enough it is revealed that the doctor, along with Beto's boss, are the ones behind sterilising Hispanic women because they simply want their population to diminish. Beto comes in to be a hero but is quickly knocked out.

Diana is the one who manages to push the doctor through the glass and save herself and her baby.

Diana gives birth to her baby and the terrible crime against the Hispanics is curbed.

The movie ends with a message about all the people who were forcefully sterilized, still not finding justice.

Madres is a forced horror film. It could have easily been a drama or a thriller at best. The unnecessary inclusion of ghosts and occult themes does nothing to bring forth the social message.

The story about this crime had to be brought to light but it didn't have to be in a horror film that doesn't do justice to the message.

Scare scale: 2.5/5