Huesera: The Bone Woman (2022)

The legend of La Huesera isn't the most frightening tale from Mexico, but it is one of the strangest.  It is of a female spirit of the desert that gathers the bones of wolves and other animals and, when the skeleton is complete, sings life back into them so that they may once again roam the wilderness.  It's kind of a beautiful tale of the cycles of nature and kind of a unique take on motherhood.  

Although bones and the cracking of such come into play in Huesera: The Bone Woman, the connection with the legend is more allegorical.  Like a number of modern horror films the actual demon or spirit is not to be taken at face value, as it represents more worldly concerns, in this case trying to fit into societal norms due to pressure from family and tradition.  

Valeria (Natalia Solián) and her husband Raúl (Alfonso Dosal) are living a happy, middle-class life and decide to have a child.  Their efforts are rewarded and Valeria becomes pregnant.  She is initially looking forward to the new member of the family, putting her carpentry skills to good use by building a crib for her child and preparing her workshop to be the new room for the baby.

One night she sees a woman across the way commit suicide after weirdly contorting.  She soon starts seeing her everywhere, afraid that the woman breaking into her house and, while she babysits for her sister Vero (Sonia Couoh), her parents' as well.  Her husband begins to worry that his wife is losing her mind despite the doctors assuring that it is related to the pregnancy.  Valeria, though, begins to feel a distance between her and Raúl and rekindles her old relationship with a woman named Octavia (Mayra Batalla), using her to find the pleasure her husband is denying her during the pregnancy.  Eventually, after the birth of the baby, she fears that spirit may harm her child and seeks the help of a group of brujerias that are associated with her aunt Isabel (Mercedes Hernández).

This is the feature debut of director and writer Michelle Garza Cervera and I think she felt duty-bound to make a big feminist statement about women's roles in Mexico, particularly that of queer women that are forced to fit into a straight society.  Thus, obviously, a good portion of the movie doesn't catch me like it would that target audience.  It's also not subtle, as Raúl is portrayed as a patronizing chauvinist who is no longer interested in his wife sexually after achieving the goal of creating a child.  In many ways he is portrayed the same way the husband is in Rosemary's Baby.

Problem is in this movie he has a right to be.  He may go about it wrong, but the concern is there, and the dangers of depression and detachment during and after pregnancy are real, and his concern for Valeria and their child has a solid foundation.  Still, Garza successfully makes her point, as too many times women are treated as if something is wrong with them when this happens when, in truth, it is out of their control.  Thankfully it never gets as far as it could with her child, but there is some foreshadowing with her parents' dog while babysitting.  It is also exacerbated by the fact that, though she acts joyful on the surface, deep down she doesn't want a child as she is giving up what little of her identity and freedom is left to her, when she has pretty much abandoned everything to conform to a traditional marriage and lifestyle.

Despite the bluntness and obviousness of Garza's subtext the Huesera works because of the perfect casting of Natalia Solián in the lead, as well as Garza's slow reveal of Valeria's past and her family life.  This is much more interesting than the horror elements, many of which seem to have been lifted from Asian horror films and also owing a great debt to The Babadook.  The switch between the happy, independent Valeria we see in flashbacks and early on with Raúl to the abused and scared rabbit of a person around most of her family is handled well, and while it is what Garza intended it is Solián that sells it.

That said it is best to go into this movie expecting less traditional horror and more realistic body horror having to deal with detachment during pregnancy and post-partum depression.  There are some great surreal images, particularly during the exorcism scenes, but at heart this is a movie more about fear of being out of control of one's body as well as giving up one's identity.  

Huesera: The Bone Woman (2022)

Time: 97 minutes

Starring: Natalia Solián, Alfonso Dosal, Mayra Batalla, Mercedes Hernández

Director: Michelle Garza Cervera