“Huesera: The Bone Woman”: A Haunting Exploration of Motherhood and Self-Discovery
“Huesera: The Bone Woman,” a film by Latin American director and screenwriter Michelle Garza Cervera, faces a familiar challenge in the international market: localization that oversimplifies and diminishes the film’s core ideas. The title “Child of Darkness” and the tagline “It feeds on the souls of the innocent” mislead audiences into expecting another “Omen”-esque horror film. In reality, “Huesera” is closer in spirit to Nikyatu Jusu’s “Nanny,” an arthouse horror film that garnered acclaim at Sundance.
A Pregnancy of Unease
The film centers on Valeria (Natalia Solián), a young woman who discovers she is pregnant. What initially seems like joyous news quickly transforms into irrational anxiety. Valeria is haunted by visions of a woman with broken limbs, and these hallucinations intensify as her pregnancy progresses, causing concern among her loved ones. As the story unfolds, it becomes clear that Valeria never truly desired motherhood or a traditional family life.
Breaking the Mold
Like many in the developing world, Valeria lives within a strict patriarchal framework where women are primarily seen as dutiful daughters, obedient wives, and loving mothers. However, Valeria struggles to fit into this societal mold. As a teenager, she shaved her head, pursued carpentry, and dreamed of escaping her conservative town, which seemed determined to confine her to a life of gendered servitude. Fear of the unknown and a sense of duty to her family ultimately led her to suppress her true self and await her “proper” feminine happiness.
Her true self resurfaces unexpectedly when the idea of a traditional patriarchal life briefly seems appealing: Valeria learns she is pregnant. She receives enthusiastic approval from her relatives, and her husband appears overjoyed. However, Valeria soon finds herself unable to share their joy. Instead of envisioning a rosy future of motherhood, she is plagued by the fears she has suppressed for years, revealing a disturbing reality she has long ignored.
The Crossroads of Motherhood
Motherhood often marks a profound turning point in a woman’s life. While some view the opportunity to live for another as a gift, others see it as a burden and a source of personal unhappiness. The haunting image of the woman with broken limbs that torments Valeria throughout her pregnancy serves as a metaphorical representation of her true self, forced to live in a state of constant suppression and self-sacrifice for the sake of a fabricated dream of traditional fulfillment.
Those expecting a demonic child and an impending apocalypse will be disappointed by “Huesera.” In Cervera’s film, “heaven” and “hell” are not literal places but rather states of being. The child is not the focus of the story; Cervera is more interested in the internal struggles of the expectant mother as she faces a difficult choice: submit to the expectations of others or embrace her true self.