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In
Costa Rica La Llorona
ranks high on the ghost
list / A.M. Costa
Rica wire services photo
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There is a new ghost in town
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By Jay
Brodell
Editor emeritus of A.M. Costa
Rica
There is a new ghost in town,
just in time for the Mexican
holiday of Cinco de Mayo.
The ghost is not new to anyone
with the slightest relationship
to Latin America, but the
producers of the movie in the
United States are calling La
Llorona a Mexican manifestation.
In fact, the legend of the
Weeping Woman is universal in
cultures where Spanish is the
dominant language.
One could suggest that the
marketing idea is to appeal to
the Mexican-American population,
and the debut was in Austin,
Texas, March 15. The general
U.S. release was April 19. The
setting is 1970s Los Angeles.
The 93-minute movie features a
woman social worker, her two
children and a woman who lost
her own two children to the La
Llorona specter.
Typically, La Llorona does not
go around drowning kids, but
there would not be much of a
movie if she did not. Critics
were not particularly kind to
the film, part of the The
Conjuring Universe movie
franchise. The basic criticism
was that the plot was not very
creative and was just a series
of scary confrontations with the
supernatural creature.
In Latin America La Llorona is a
portent, a warning that
something bad will happen. She
is described as a weeping woman
who is seeking her child that
for some reason she drowned in
her earthly existence. She is a
white and misty creature. Such
spirits that predict tragedies
are widespread in most cultures,
including the Irish Banshee. The
Banshee also wails.
When the New Line Cinema
production makes it to Costa
Rica, moviegoers can expect to
see Emmy nominated Linda
Cardellini, frequent movie bad
guy Raymond Cruz and
Venezuelan-born
model-turned-career-actress
Patricia Velásquez in the key
roles. Cardellini is the social
worker mom. Velásquez is
the vindictive mom who lost her
children, and Cruz plays an
ex-priest who knows how to
defeat evil spirits.
The movie already is a financial
winner. It cost about $9 million
to make, according to movie
industry sources. It briefly led
the weekly top earners list, and
took in about $87 million by the
end of last week.
The marketing targeting seems to
be effective because audience
surveys report a larger than
normal percentage of Mexicans
and other Latin Americans.
In Costa Rica La Llorona ranks
high on the ghost list along
with La Tulevieja, La Carreta
Sin Bueyes and La Segua.
The legend here is far deeper
than the movie. The Costa Rican
La Llorona is a beautiful
campesina who is attracted to
the sins of the city and
predictably becomes pregnant.
She throws her newborn girl into
a river after being rejected by
the once-adoring aristocratic
lover. Her punishment is to
eternally prowl the riverbank
weeping and seeking the body of
her dead child.
Consequently, the Costa Rican
version had deeper social and
moral attributes than a mere
nasty ghost that goes around
killing children.
La Llorona is in theaters at CCM Cinema*
in San José, Jaco Beach, San
Carlos in the northern zone, San
Ramon in the southern zone, and
Heredia.
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Have you heard about Costa
Rican spooky stories? We
would like to know your thoughts
on this story. Send your
comments to: news@amcostarica.com
*Link to reach the place map.
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