Moran 1

Theme I: Complicated love

Theme II: Oppression
Theme III: Justice

I. Introduction
A. In the film La Llorona by Jayro Bustamante, it is a multifaceted piece of political art that
tells the story of the urban legend “La Llorona” with a Guatemalan spin to it.
B. In the film, Jayro Bustamante uses film techniques to create a unique atmosphere to the
movie that shows us the perspective of seeing Enrique Monteverde’s skeletons finally
coming out of his closet, the general guilty of committing genocide on the indigenous
Mayan people of Guatemala.
C. La Llorona, also known as Alma, is back from the dead on a mission to seek revenge for
the lost lives of her people - including her children and her own. Jayro Bustamante’s
Guatemalan take on “La Llorona” talks about the genocide of Guatemala and the fight for
justice. Alma is representative of her lost children and people, and she is coming back to
haunt Enrique Monteverde for his dues.

Thesis: Alma goes through multiple evolutions throughout the film; furthermore, this is
significant because through La Llorona she enlightens the viewers on complex themes the
characters experience in the film like complicated love, justice, and the real oppression of the
Mayan people of Guatemala.

II. Theme #1: Complicated love

Carmen and Natalia struggle with enabling Enrique and learning to love him as he is
despite his troubling and concerning behavior and past.

A. Support: (50:53) “'He needs to be hospitalized.’ ‘This is not Alzheimer's. Nobody is

going to accept it.’ ‘Enrique has always been delighted to chase women.’ … ‘I never
thought that at this age I would go through this.’” (La Llorona)
B. Support: (23:33) “‘Did dad tell you everything? Do you think he did all that or did he just
give orders?’ ‘You believe those prostitutes more than your own father?’... ‘Mom! I really
believe that nobody is capable of making up such things. You have to go through them to
tell them like that.’” (La Llorona)
C. Support: “Please get away from us because I love my mom, and I don’t want her to stop
loving me. Because if she sees you wearing those fabulous hoop earrings, those
painted-on jeans, sucking down that Frappuccino like that straw should be hanging out of
a zipper, she’ll start looking at me more closely.” (High Risk Homosexual)
D. Support: Carmen’s nightmares where she imagines herself being one of the indigenous
women being harrassed and hunted by the general and his troops. She even pees her bed
and this is where she begins having her doubts about her husband, Enrique. (La Llorona)
 Moran 2

III. Theme #2: Oppression

La Llorona talks about the deep-rooted history of discrimination and oppression against
indigenous Mayan people of Guatemala, a battle these communities are still facing today.

A. Support: In Lucia Ixchu’s speech which she presented at CSUN on November 8, 2022,
she mentions the displacement and colonization of their crops and land still taking place
today in Guatemala by the colonial elite and monopolies in Guatemala exporting palm oil
to different countries including the United States and Europe. Years ago, indigenous
members of her community were massacred in retaliation, and this inspired her to
become a journalist fighting for change which has resulted in her being in exile from the
country. (Lucia Ixchiu)
B. Support: “Mayans in Guatemala are more likely to be poor and are generally
associated with low social status (Menjívar, 2002). Amalia and her brother were
aware of Mayans’ social position. They commented that people in Guatemala are “really
racist” towards Mayans.” (Alla en Guatemala)
C. Support: “The Maya in Los Angeles are forced to deal with marginalization on two
fronts: anti- immigrant sentiments from American society, and discrimination within the
Guatemalan and Latino communities.” (Expressions of Maya Identity and Culture in Los
Angeles)

IV. Theme #3: Justice

Alma/La Llorona is seeking revenge for the taken lives of her people while simultaneously
putting justice into her own hands. Angry protestors are seeking justice for the genocide of
the indigenous Maya as well and this can be seen throughout the film.

A. Support: (16:49) “Clouds protected us up there every time the helicopters were looking
for us, but there was no food so we had to go down, that's when they caught me and took
me to the military base. The soldiers had their way with me. I wasn't the only one there.
We didn't do anything. We were in our homes. I'm not embarrassed to tell you what I
went through. I hope you are not embarrassed to do justice.” (La Llorona)
B. Support: In the photograph, La Super Chica en Atitlan, I can connect this picture with the
theme of justice for indigenous women because it depicts a Mayan woman wearing her
traje underneath a Superman shirt in which she proudly wears with her hands to her hips.
I interpret this photograph as her seeking justice for her indigenous community. Despite
all her struggles in life, she is proud of the strong woman she is and will fight for her
people and seek the justice they deserve. (La Super Chica en Atitlán)
C. Support: “The Sandinistas inherited a country ravaged by a ruthless dictatorship of more
than 40 years that accumulated massive debt and a revolution that took the lives of more
than 50,000 people.” (The Sandinista Revolution and the “Fifth Freedom”)
 Moran 3

D. Support: (1:23:24) “Spirits go back to your slumber, there's nothing here for you. We
apologize if we did something wrong to you. Forgive us. Spirits, we respectfully ask you
to leave us in peace. If the general has a debt with you, please understand... we had
nothing to do with it.” (La Llorona)

V. Conclusion
A. Through La Llorona’s political influence, viewers learn about real issues pertaining to the
oppression and injustices of Guatemala’s indigenous Maya population. Viewers also learn
about the complex relationships in the film such as the struggle of loving a family
member despite their inexcusable and intolerable behavior.
B. The three themes of complicated love, oppression, and justice are commonly depicted in
the motion picture. The dual role of Alma and La Llorona exemplify all of these themes
and her representation and accurate portrayal of an indigenous Mayan woman brings
these themes to light in the film.
C. Alma is the most important character in the film because of her ability to tie all the film’s
messages together. Her character helps us understand the history of the general’s uncanny
obsession with indigenous women, the unjust treatment and killings of her people, and
the ambitious mission for revenge she seeks while others look for justice.
 Moran 4

Michael Moran

Professor Shahrazad Encinias

CAS 115

8 November 2022

La Llorona: How It Depicts Love, Oppression, and Justice

La Llorona, a Guatemalan film by director Jayro Bustamante, dives deep into the history

of genocide and war against the indigenous Mayan people of Guatemala. The film La Llorona by

Jayro Bustamante is a multifaceted piece of political art that tells the story of the urban legend

“La Llorona” with a unique Guatemalan spin to it. The film focuses on the family of Enrique

Monteverde, the general in charge of committing the inhumane taking of lives of the indigenous

Mayan people in Guatemala. The character of Enrique Monteverde is a fictional depiction of

Efraín Ríos Montt, the real life general involved in these cruel acts of genocide. La Llorona, also

known as Alma, is back from the dead on a mission to seek revenge for the lost lives of her

people - including her children and her own. Jayro Bustamante’s Guatemalan take on “La

Llorona” talks about the cruel acts of genocide committed on the indigenous community of

Guatemala and the fight for justice, as seen on the film. Alma is representative of her lost

children and people, and she is coming back to haunt Enrique Monteverde for his dues. Alma

goes through multiple evolutions throughout the film; furthermore, this is significant because

through La Llorona she enlightens the viewers on complex themes the characters experience in

the film like complicated love, justice, and the real oppression of the Mayan people of

Guatemala.

One of the themes heavily depicted in the film is the theme of complicated love. Love can

be unconditional, but when our loved ones do despicable acts it may be necessary to draw a line
 Moran 5

or at least address their wrongdoings. Carmen (Enrique’s wife) and Natalia (Enrique’s daughter)

struggle with enabling Enrique and learning to love him despite all his concerning behavior and

his past. One example in which this can be seen is when Enrique harrasses Alma by watching her

as she showers fully naked. Enrique always makes up excuses for his actions and says he’s a

sleepwalker, but knowing his history of pursuing indigenous women, this just portrays him as a

pervy old guy. Carmen and Natalia are embarrassed by this. Natalia apologizes to Alma for

Enrique and says he is sick. Carmen and Natalia then sit on the staircase together as Carmen tells

Natalia how Enrique has always had an obsession for Maya women. She even mentions that

Valeriana could be Natalia’s half sister, since Valeriana has been their family’s dedicated house

lady since she was brought to them as a little girl. “'He needs to be hospitalized.’ ‘This is not

Alzheimer's. Nobody is going to accept it.’ ‘Enrique has always been delighted to chase women.’

… ‘I never thought that at this age I would go through this.’” (La Llorona (50:53). Carmen gives

us a hint into what her shared life with Enrique has been when she mentions that she never

thought that at her age she would have to go through Enrique still pursuing other women. This

implies that Enrique probably has had a history of doing this before, and Carmen has stood by

his side through all of it.

Another example in which we can see Carmen enabling her husband’s behavior is in the

scene after the witness statements in the trial where Natalia questions if her father really

committed all those heinous crimes. “‘Did dad tell you everything? Do you think he did all that

or did he just give orders?’ ‘You believe those prostitutes more than your own father?’... ‘Mom! I

really believe that nobody is capable of making up such things. You have to go through them to

tell them like that.’” (La Llorona 23:33). Carmen outwardly calls the indigenous people giving

their witness statements whores. She calls them liars and does not want to believe the reality of
 Moran 6

the situation. Natalia, being sane minded and realizing the truth of the matter, questions her

father’s behavior and then gets called a leftist by her mother.

In High Risk Homosexual by Edgar Gomez, this excerpt from the chapter “Cool Mom”

details what it is like to have conditional love. “Please get away from us because I love my mom,

and I don’t want her to stop loving me. Because if she sees you wearing those fabulous hoop

earrings, those painted-on jeans, sucking down that Frappuccino like that straw should be

hanging out of a zipper, she’ll start looking at me more closely.” (Gomez 318). This can be

connected with La Llorona because in this quote, Gomez shares his fear of his mom not loving

him anymore. Carmen and Natalia’s complicated love with Enrique is similar to Gomez and his

relationship with his mother’s love. Viewers can also note that Carmen is beginning to see

Enrique’s true colors when she begins to have her nightmares (probably orchestrated by Alma).

These nightmares put her in the shoes of Alma as she experiences her village being attacked by

Enrique and his troops. She even pees her bed and says she no longer wants to sleep next to him.

The second theme portrayed in La Llorona is the theme of oppression. The indigenous

Mayan people of Guatemala have been heavily oppressed since the beginning of colonization. La

Llorona depicts the oppression of the Maya throughout the entirety of its film. La Llorona talks

about the deep-rooted history of discrimination and oppression against indigenous Mayan people

of Guatemala, a battle these communities are still facing today. In Lucia Ixchu’s speech “Why

Are Indigenous Communities in Guatemala Being Criminalized?” held at CSUN on November

8, 2022, she talks about the displacement and colonization of their crops and land still taking

place today in Guatemala by the colonial elite and monopolies in Guatemala exporting palm oil

to different countries including the United States and Europe. Years ago, indigenous members of

her community were massacred in retaliation, and this inspired her to become a journalist
 Moran 7

fighting for change which has resulted in her being in exile from the country. (Lucia Ixchiu).

Indigenous communities in Guatemala face colonization of their land, mistreatment and

assassinations of their people, discrimination from non-indigenous people of Guatemala, and so

much more that is pushed under the rug. Lucia Ixchiu and other indigenous voices and journalists

are important because they keep us aware of the injustices taking place in front of us.

In Alla En Guatemala, it talks about the social position Mayans in Guatemala have and

the disadvantages already associated with them. “Mayans in Guatemala are more likely to be

poor and are generally associated with low social status (Menjívar, 2002). Amalia and her

brother were aware of Mayans’ social position. They commented that people in Guatemala are

“really racist” towards Mayans.” (Ek 72). This quote from Alla En Guatemala helps us better

understand the disadvantages and discrimination Mayan people in Guatemala face. They are

already statistically underprivileged, being more likely to experience poverty than other

demographic groups. Not only do Mayans in Guatemala experience this type of discrimination,

but so do Mayan people who migrate to the United States in search for a better life.

In Expressions of Maya Identity and Culture in Los Angeles, it states, “The Maya in Los

Angeles are forced to deal with marginalization on two fronts: anti- immigrant sentiments from

American society, and discrimination within the Guatemalan and Latino communities.” (Batz

47). Mayan immigrants in Los Angeles experience fears of deportation and discrimination from

American society while also experiencing discrimination from Latino and Hispanic communities

for not speaking Spanish as their first language or mother tongue. For many Mayan people,

Spanish is a second language and English is their third. This makes assimilation into American

society already much more difficult than other communities.

 Moran 8

The last theme that is recurrent in the film is the theme of justice. Alma/La Llorona is

seeking revenge for the taken lives of her people while simultaneously putting justice into her

own hands. Angry protestors are also seeking justice for the genocide of the indigenous Maya as

well, and this can be seen throughout the film. In the trial scene where indigenous witnesses that

were present are giving their statements while having their faces protected under veils, one

Mayan woman is seen discussing the hostility she experienced in her village. “The soldiers had

their way with me. I wasn't the only one there. We didn't do anything. We were in our homes. I'm

not embarrassed to tell you what I went through. I hope you are not embarrassed to do justice.”

(La Llorona 16:49). In the last two lines, she emphasizes that she is not ashamed of telling her

experiences. She is a survivor who escaped the treachery that occurred on that day, and she is

here to tell her truth to put the man behind this in captivity.

In the photograph La Super Chica en Atitlan, this picture can be connected with the

theme of justice for indigenous women in La Llorona because it depicts a Mayan woman

wearing her traje underneath a Superman shirt. (Iraheta). She proudly wears the shirt with her

hands to her hips in a confident manner. I interpret this photograph as her seeking justice for her

indigenous community. By the complection of her sun damaged and wrinkly skin, you can tell

she has endured a lot of hard labor and she has lived through a lot of life. Despite all her

struggles in life, she is proud of the strong woman she is and will fight for her people and seek

the justice they deserve. Superman is symbolic for justice, therefore it can be connected.

Another connection in the film that can be made with the theme of justice is the

Sandinista revolution in Nicaragua. The Sandinistas were fighting for their country that was

facing many years of oppression due to the country’s dictatorship. In an excerpt from The

Sandinista Revolution and the “Fifth Freedom,” it mentions, “The Sandinistas inherited a
 Moran 9

country ravaged by a ruthless dictatorship of more than 40 years that accumulated massive debt

and a revolution that took the lives of more than 50,000 people.” (Major 1). The Sandinistas

were actively fighting for justice in their motherland and stood up for human rights. They were

heavily oppressed and became targets for Nicaragua’s dictatorial government and its allies,

including the United States government. The Sandinistas caused a revolution and this can be

connected with La Llorona’s fight for justice because Mayan people like Lucia Ixchiu are still

fighting for that in today’s day and age.

In the climax scene of La Llorona, the undead spirits begin showing up in the family’s

backyard. Valeriana tells all of them to gather candles and sugar quickly and then they sit in a

circle as they hold hands in prayer. Valeriana speaks to the spirits and begins chanting in Mayan,

begging the spirits to go back and to have mercy upon them.“Spirits go back to your slumber,

there's nothing here for you. We apologize if we did something wrong to you. Forgive us. Spirits,

we respectfully ask you to leave us in peace. If the general has a debt with you, please

understand... we had nothing to do with it.” (La Llorona 1:23:24). Valeriana emphasizes that

none of them have anything to do with it except Enrique. Enrique has a debt with them, not the

rest of the family, so she begs them for forgiveness and mercy. The spirits coming back

symbolizes justice taking place and Enrique’s skeletons finally coming out of his closet. In this

same scene, Carmen goes into another one of her nightmares in which she lives out Alma’s final

moments alive. She sees Alma’s children being drowned before her husband, Enrique, shoots her

in the head. She looks down only to see Alma on the floor with a bullet wound on her forehead.

She then begins to choke Enrique in her dream, and as she wakes up she realizes she has killed

Enrique outside of her dream as well. This is clearly orchestrated by Alma since she has used
 Moran 10

Carmen as a host to carry out her revenge. While revenge is intertwined with justice in this

scene, justice is the evident theme as Alma is putting justice into her own hands.

Through La Llorona’s political depictions, viewers learn about real issues pertaining to

the oppression and injustices of Guatemala’s indigenous Maya population. Viewers also learn

about the complex relationships in the film such as the struggle of loving a family member

despite their inexcusable and intolerable behavior. The three themes of complicated love,

oppression, and justice are commonly depicted in the motion picture. The dual role of Alma and

La Llorona exemplify all of these themes and her representation and accurate portrayal of an

indigenous Mayan woman brings these themes to light in the film. Alma is the most important

character in the film because of her ability to tie all the film’s messages together. Her character

helps us understand the history of the general’s uncanny obsession with indigenous women, the

unjust treatment and killings of her people, and the ambitious mission for revenge she seeks

while also seeking justice. The director, Jayro Bustamante, does a commendable job of

captivating all of these ideas into one motion picture that demonstrates the injustices Mayan

communities in Guatemala face. It is very informative and pulls on the heart strings of viewers

for Alma. This Guatemalan take on the widely spread Latin American urban legend “La

Llorona” helps us empathize with the weeping woman. Alma was robbed of her children and her

own short-lived life. It is easy to empathize with Alma or La Llorona in the film, because

Enrique Monteverde stripped away her and her people’s lives without repercussions or remorse.
 Moran 11

Works Cited

Batz, Giovanni. Expressions of Maya Identity and Culture in Los Angeles, Teresa Lozano Long

Institute of Latin American Studies, 2010.

canvas.csun.edu/courses/117238/files/18307184?module_item_id=5109488.

Ek, Lucila D. Alla en Guatemala, The High School Journal, April-May 2009.

canvas.csun.edu/courses/117238/files/18307183?module_item_id=5109489.

Gomez, Edgar. High Risk Homosexual, Soft Skull, 11 Jan. 2022.

books.apple.com/us/book/high-risk-homosexual/id1562607354.

Iraheta, Walterio. Superchica En Atitlán, Museo de Arte de El Salvador (MARTE) and MARTE

Contemporary (MARTE-C), San Salvador, El Salvador, 2003.

https://www.artsy.net/artwork/walterio-iraheta-super-girl-in-atitlan-superchica-en-atitlan.

Ixchiu, Lucia and The Department of Central American and Transborder Studies. Why Are

Indigenous Communities in Guatemala Being Criminalized? 8 Nov. 2022.

canvas.csun.edu/courses/117238/discussion_topics/1494418. Los Angeles, California,

United States of America.

La Llorona. Directed by Jayro Bustamante, La Casa de Produccion, 2019.

canvas.csun.edu/courses/117238/pages/la-llorona-film?module_item_id=5204547.

Major, Mark. The Sandinista Revolution and the “Fifth Freedom” MRonline, 15 Aug. 2005.

mronline.org/2005/08/15/the-sandinista-revolution-and-the-fifth-freedom/