The powerful Mexican–Argentinian drama thriller ‘Noise’ (original Spanish title Ruido) was directed by Natalia Beristáin and released in 2022. Beristáin collaborated with Diego Enrique Osorno and Alo Valenzuela Escobedo on the film’s screenplay. It premiered at the San Sebastián International Film Festival and was screened afterwards in Argentina and Mexico. In January 2023, the film became available through streaming services.
The running time of the movie is approximately 104 minutes, during which a mother’s search for her daughter that spans years form the crux of the film and is set against the backdrop of the systemic crisis of disappearances in Mexico. Each family in Latin America suffers this form of collective trauma, and the film seeks to capture their pain through deep and intimate storytelling that explores personal experiences parallel to larger societal failures.
Synopsis and Story Structure
Julia, a middle-aged artist and mother played by Julieta Egurrola, is still reeling from the disappearance of her daughter Gertrudis, better known as Ger, for over nine months. Julia’s story begins with her daughter’s video message showing her having fun just moments before she vanished. This video tortures Julia in the same way a haunting memory would and marks the beginning of the painful journey she is forced to endure.
While waiting to gain access to official pathways, Julia realizes that law enforcement agencies are either incompetent or intentionally obstructing processes. The apathy and red tape she faces sheds light on the systemic failing of confronting the epidemic of missing persons in Mexico. Like too many cases, hers is buried within mountains of paperwork, bureaucratic stagnation, and silence.
Desperate for resolution, Julia joins forces with Abril, a devoted activist journalist determined to uncover injustice and aid families in similar situations. Abril steers Julia through informal networks of activists, forensics experts, and families sharing in their grief. Together, they pursue long-abandoned police files, mass graves, and survivors of abuse recounting harrowing tales of cartel violence, trafficking, and overwhelming impunity.
As much as this recovery commences as a search for one woman’s daughter, it becomes an immersion into the agony of many. Bit by bit, Julia pieces together a reality where justice intertwines with violence, hope with despair, and truth with denial, transitioning into a profound cacophony—emotional, political, and psychological.
Cast and Characters
Julieta Egurrola as Julia: A mother dealing with profound loss and social apathy. Egurrola’s performance is quietly powerful, intense, and at the same time fragile and resolute. Her portrayal is deeply intimate and moving. It grounds the film in emotional truth.
Teresa Ruiz as Journalist Abril Escobedo: Julia’s collaborator as a journalist. Abril offers logistical aid along with emotional encouragement. Ruiz’s character serves as a bridge between the victims and the media—she plunges into that world of institutionalized denial with compassion and defiance.
Erick Israel Consuelo as a reluctant state official: Julia embodies a number of roles that comprise a public servant, compassion, responsibility, help, hinder. His conflicting interactions with Julia illustrate one of her roles as a public servant.
The supporting cast includes a diverse group of non-actors and activists which helps to communicate genuine narratives. These performances anchor the film in its social message while also providing it with narrative and artistic depth, incorporating documentary realism into the dramatic structure.
Direction and Technical Elements
Natalia Beristáin’s direction is assured yet minimalist. She allows the story to unfold through slow pacing, quiet moments, and thoughtful composition. Beristáin sidesteps melodrama to cultivate a sense of consistent, simmering tension. She captures the vividly emotional reality of Julia’s life while devoid of sensationalizing the violence that marks it.
The cinematography, which was done by Dariela Ludlow, is instrumental in creating the film’s grim tone. Scenes are frequently suffused with muted hues and soft illumination alongside languid close-ups which highlight the intimacy of the moment’s emotional stakes. These form underpin the dense uncertainty which surrounds the characters.
The score is skeletal and eerie, reflecting the sparsity of focus on the narrative. It aligns with the emotional currents, often receding to let silence take center stage. This amplifies the tension, grief, and resolve that pervades the atmosphere.
Schverdfinger’s editing sustains a measured tempo. The story does not hasten through actions or scenes, offering the audience a chance to join Julia in her profound suffering, bewilderment, and rage. She is portrayed as a psychologically dislocated person with gentle flashbacks and dream sequences which evoke the fragmented nature of her mind.
Themes and Symbolism
Noise addresses several interconnected themes:
Grief and Maternal Love: At its heart, the film focuses on the challenge of letting go of a deceased loved one. Julia’s suffering is not theatrical. Rather, it is unyielding and transformative in a persistent manner.
Systemic Violence: The film critiques criminal cartels as well as the systems that permit their violence through silence or complicity. The police, prosecutors, and the local government are depicted as indifferent, if not outright corrupt.
Solidarity Among Women: A Sisterhood is formed by women who have individually suffered a loss. These women come together through shared grief, demonstrating strength and defiance.
Silence and Sound: The title of the film, Noise, is metaphorical. It captures the emotional turmoil of uncertainty and voice that is drowned out by systematic silence and the citizens’ rise to demand change.
Search for Identity and Closure: Julia’s journey is existential in nature. The encounter with societal apathy forces her to reconstruct her identity as a woman stripped of the role of a mother and reimagine who she could be without the elusive answers.
Reception and Critique Analysis
Noise received acclaim from various critics. Commentators applauded the work for observational narrative style, failure of systems in place, and emotional connection. The film was eluded to by some to be one of the prominent Latin American films that year due to Julieta Egurrola’s remarkably portrayed role which showcased depth and authenticity.
Reviewers emphasized the lack of resolution to conflicts within the film. Instead of constructing the narrative around closure or justice, the film depicts the unfortunate truth: countless families are left in the lurch, and the search for answers becomes a never-ending obsession.
Cinema-goers described the film’s subtle power. Noise does not highlight the crime itself, rather it explores the emotional void—systems collapse and survivors struggle to pick up the pieces. The central message where these emotions are relatable to all people is what made it popular around the globe.
Cultural and Social Influence
Beyond a mere film, Noise constructs a grievance toward the dramatic fabrication of realities of disappeared people—an issue that concerns thousands. The film aims to serve not only as a remembrance for the disappeared, but also as a cinematic rally for justice.
The closing credits show the photographs and identities of several missing individuals, further establishing the film’s connection to reality. This engagement alters the filmgoer’s involvement from idle watching to contemplation. This approach results in a blending of cinematic genres, oscillating between fiction and therapeutic documentary, artistic creation and sociopolitical intervention.
Conclusion
Noise is a chilling, humanistic portrayal of sorrow, the perseverance of the human spirit, and the relentless pursuit of justice amid institutional apathy. The film-essay’s Natalia Beristáin illustrates with a powerful narrative that knows no borders the enduring universality of loss and the uniquely agonizing reality of absence.
Noise is deeply rooted in social consciousness, especially with Julieta Egurrola’s compelling portrayal, and stands on its own as a disquieting documentary. It compels audiences to pay attention, not only to its undeniable beauty, but also to relentless anguish, unbridled rage, and a profound love bottled within grief. Sobering as it may be, the film is essential, earning its place as one of the defining masterpiece of contemporary Mexican cinema.
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