Cadejo Blanco, the notes advise, is a local Guatemalan name for a mysterious beast. Towards the end of the film, the protagonist, Sarita finds herself alone in the jungle and hears a strange animal cry, which might be the Cadejo. On the other hand, the real malevolent beast is clearly the gangster who runs the local crew in the sleepy seaside town of Puerto Barrios. Sarita has come there looking for her sister who has gone missing from the home they share in a poor corner of Guatemala City. Before she leaves for the coast, she visits her rich boyfriend in the house he inhabits in the private gated community, indicative of the two tier world, reminiscent of Melchor’s Paradais. Things go much as one might expect when Sarita reaches the coast. From bad to worse. She survives on her wits, as the narrative makes her face one challenge after another. The film on the one hand does an effective job of getting under the skin of this marginal community, and on the other perhaps soft-soaps a tad, particularly with regard to the problem of sexual violence. One worries that, no matter how testing Sarita’s journey will be, what the director shows is just the tip of the iceberg of what really goes on. The film is held together by Karen Martinez’s fearsome performance, an actress exuding complete commitment to the role. In an interview, the director noted that he worked on the whole with local kids/ actors, but for the lead he recognised the need to cast a more experienced actress and Karen Martinez delivers with real verve.
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