First of all, “Plaza de la Soledad” opens with an amazing, made-for-cinema scene that works in a documentary only if filmmaking is considered a collaboration between the people in front of and behind the camera. In this case it’s a project realised by photographer and filmmaker Maya Goded and the prostitutes of La Merced in Mexico City, whose trust Goded won over years of work on a series of photos about the neighbourhood.
These women, who have sold themselves to men ever since they were young and live off them even today, are between 50 and 80 years old. That means a lot of bottled-up stuff, and cinema is their medium of choice to give vent to their stories. They are brave and strong, women who were abused or raped as young girls, had to raise their kids without husbands and describe their biographies with no illusions – no self pity, focused only on survival. At the same time there’s an energy vibrating in this film, whose narrative scope ranges from burlesque everyday humour via sexual practices with customers to the most intimate confessions that reveal glimpses of their longing for a little security and love. There’s no doubt that the renowned Magnum photographer Maya Goded is also one of the great voices of contemporary Mexican cinema.
Matthias Heeder
