Observing incarceration
Argentine filmmaker Marcia Pa-radiso’s documentary Lunas cautivas focuses on the lives of Lidia, Majo and Lili, three women detained at the Ezeiza penitentiary. Through the lives of these three women, the film also speaks about the situation of other convicts. It’s an observational documentary and, as such, the filmmaker never appears on screen or asks direct questions. There’s no testimonies or voiceovers. Instead, the filmmaker actually observes several situations, and allows them to unfold as the camera goes for details in faces, gestures and body language.
Over two hundred women are currently imprisoned in the Ezeiza Penitentiary 31 (Unidad Penitenciaria 31 de Ezeiza). Some are single, some have their babies with them, some are local and the rest are foreigners.
Convictions can be quite short, but also rather long, and yet in any case the experience of being deprived of your freedom is equally overwhelming. In order to provide some kind of creative output, some kind of therapy, the penitentiary runs two workshops: poetry and photography.
In this context, writing poetry and seeing the world (and themselves) through the lens of a camera are the means through which they find their inner personal transformation.
Women in pain, but also in joy, because they have made meaningful friendships inside and share an overall sense of companionship and solidarity with other inmates.
These women are indeed imprisoned, but they are not alone. Day after day, they rediscover each other. Most importantly, their minds are more and more free.
Paradiso’s gaze is compassionate but never condescending. It’s filled with emotion, but never sentimental.
It goes for the essence of things, meaning what these women and their memories are like, it explores their fears and anxieties about imminent release, who they were and who they are now. The panorama is wide but never superficial.
Lunas cautivas is about discovery and, in a sense, rebirth. Expressive close-ups and large shots of the penitentiary (inside and from a distance) immerse viewers into this little known universe.
