Davila masterfully builds audience identification with outsiders who struggle to be identified with. The frustrations that they feel are made to be felt by the viewer, along with the cathartic releases from them in grand acts of resistance, whether with paint or music. It helps a lot that the music written for the film is great, I mean, really great. It is the kind of punk rock that goes back to how they did it at the end of the 70s at the Hong Kong Cafe, where the tunes were raw and angry yet melodic and catchy. The lyrics are really good too, which shouldn’t be surprising but is. The truth is that many times, original punk music is crafted for a picture; it never sounds anywhere near as good as the rock on display here. Makes me thirsty for a vinyl soundtrack album. I hope it can be acquired somehow.
“…feels like the Saturday Night Fever of punk culture.”
The magic of movies is how they can transport the viewer to places they have never been and may never see. While it is wonderful the heights you can scale from your seat by doing this, there are also the depths that you can be dragged down into. I will guarantee you that at one point, Violent Butterflies (Violentas Mariposas) will take you to a place you did not expect to be and never wanted to be near.
It is especially horrifying due to how much we have grown to empathize with the main characters, only to see them subject to massive atrocities. The delicacy Davila uses when depicting these acts may go unnoticed due to the intensity, but I appreciated how he kept the violence above genre normalization. While the ingredients may be what you would find in thrillers or action films, Davila keeps the tone strictly drama, which only cranks up the effect of the bloodier actions. Violent Butterflies (Violentas Mariposas) makes clear more than any other punk movie what these rebels are resisting and shows how devastating institutionalized corruption can be to your health. Like during the fever that started in the late 70s, we are all still struggling to stay alive. One of the best punk movies ever made, but know that this one will slam you extra hard when you reach the pit.
"…one of the best punk movies ever made..."
