“La libertad del diablo”

La libertad del diablo is a documentary directed by Everardo González and made up of a

series of interviews that tell us real stories about the violence in México through the eyes of
the victims and perpetrators. There are testimonies of militars who reveal us about the
corruption and tortures that are carried out in the army, young sicarios that explained us not
only how does someone become a murderer, also, how it is possible that you take that cruel
activity as a job and how much does it affect you, that in one point, you just don´t feel
anything when it becomes to kill a person (even a child). Also, the documentary show us
painful sories about relatives of kidnapping and murder victims, who still fight with the
emotional cosequences of those episodes is their lifes: the guilt, the pain, the frustration of
impunity, the anger or fear, and if it is the case, the uncertainty of not knowing the current
situation of their missing family member; stories of orphans girls and a woman looking for
the body of her children. These interviews could be said to be anonymous. On camera, the
interviewees wear a skin-colored mask that hides a large part of their faces and we can only
see their mouths, their noses and, above all, their eyes.

One psychological issue about violence is the symbolism of the act in the criminal culture; as
the sicarios on the documentary says, the power of subdue or kill others is rewardable
between that population, it is a behavior that continues due to positive reinforcement, which
in this case would be praise, the feeling of greatness and, above all, the monetary reward.
Another issue is the structural violence; because not only the criminals exercise violence, also
the army or police, and not only that, the corruption and immunity drag the victims and their
relatives to a violent system, making them remain in violence in the face of submission by
those who exercise power, or in other case, inciting them to commit violent acts as well (by
making them mistrust or disrespect the system).
The prolonged exposure to violence is also a psychological issue that increases the
probability to exercise violence against others or to be a victim or violence (vicarious or
observational learning).

The documentary makes me realize the sad reality of the corruption, impunity and violence in
México. The suffering of the victims touched me and made me wonder how I would feel if I
were in those situations. I hope things get better over time because it's unacceptable all the
amount of violence in our country.