Tigers Are Not Afraid: But I Am

Issa López’s 2017 horror fantasy film Tigers Are Not Afraid takes on the horror genre from the perspective of a child’s imagination. It follows a young girl named Estrella (Paola Lara) who is raised in a town that is terrorized by the drug wars between the cartels. The film opens on Estrella in class where the students are encouraged to explore the different elements of a fairytale and then create their own. Estrella’s voice takes over as she tells her story about the young prince who turned into a tiger. This is the first mention of tigers in the film, and immediately it is tied to the image of orphan Shine (Juan Ramón López) by him spray painting the image of a tiger on a wall as Estrella tells her story. However, her fairytale is cut short due to guns firing outside of her classroom walls. This opening scene represents the overarching theme of loss of innocence and childhoods cut short for the children in Estrella and Shine’s town thanks to the cartel wars in their neighborhoods. Estrella is given three wishes from her teacher as they cower under their desks. Estrella goes home only to realize her mother has gone missing, mostly likely thanks to the cartel, and uses her first wish to bring her mother back. We later find out thanks to a video that the cartel leader El Chino (Tenoch Huerta) shoots and kills her mother. Estrella soon becomes terrorized by the shadow of a spirit with the voice of her mother. The childish fear of the dark and shadows comes to life before Estrella’s eyes, and she looks to Shine and his gang for protection and comfort.

Shine forms his own small gang of children who have all been terrorized by and lost their families to the cartels. The youngest member of his “gang”, Morro (Nery Arredondo), is too traumatized from his past to talk, but he carries around a little stuffed tiger to serve as a source of courage and protection. Shine tells his gang his own fairytale about a tiger who roams the streets, lonely, and feeds on orphaned children who are all alone. Despite the nature of this story, Morro and the others find comfort in the tale and this tiger who is not afraid. Shine rejects Estrella, accusing all girls of being back luck, but is outvoted by the rest of his gang to keep her around. Although the monster in the shadows follows her wherever she goes, Estrella finds her own peace within the group. When Morro is taken by the cartel, Estrella must prove herself to the gang by rescuing Morro and killing cartel member Caco (Ianis Guerrero), she uses her second wish and wishes to not have to kill Caco herself. As she steps closer it is revealed that Caco had been killed before she arrived. She rescues Morro as well as other children from their cages and returns to the gang a hero. Shine, Estrella, and the others even find their own castle with a “zoo” (puddle of water with fish) and “soccer field” (open space with some soccer balls). Their biggest problem has yet to come when they realize what they have on the phone Shine stole from Caco. When Morro is killed by the cartel, his stuffed animal tiger comes to life and serves as a host in which Morro communicated to Estrella. Once again, the tiger motif comes into play, only this time, Morro no longer feels fear because he is no longer alive. Estrella’s fairytale comes to life once more through Morro, the young prince who dies and comes back to life as a tiger.

Finally, when Estrella has defeated her enemies, she meets the real life tiger from Shine’s fairytale in a beautiful conclusion of her journey. Estrella is no longer afraid of the cartel because they’re all dead. She is no longer afraid of the spirits that follow her because she learns it is her mother and other victims of the cartel. Like tigers, Estrella is no longer afraid. Throughout the film the audience is taken through the story from a child’s perspective. The story, at its core, is a fairytale. Our protagonist, Estrella, is granted three wishes to help her through her journey. She has some help along the way until she is able to defeat her enemies. The tiger in Shine’s fairytale now represents Estrella on her journey. She once belonged to someone, her mother, like the tiger to the wealthy man. They were cared for and loved. But all of that way taken away from them. So now, the tiger, like Estrella, roam the streets seeking revenge on the men who took their families away.

The real horror in this film is not the spirits that follow Estrella, it is the cartel and the real life problems that people face every day. Murder, child trafficking, kidnapping, and gang wars. These are the elements that makes the audience hide behind their hands as they watch Estrella and Shine fight for their lives. Sure, the dark spirits emerging from the shadows every time Estrella closed her eyes sent a chill down my spine, but that is nothing compared to watching Morro cling to his tiger as he clings to his life surrounded by his found family. Or watching Shine fall to the ground in front of Estrella’s eyes just when they think they got away. Issa López is able to write this horror fairytale through the lens of an innocent child who is exposed to the real horrors of the adult world. As a young adult preparing to enter the real world, the overlap of childhood fears and adult fears was equally satisfying and terrifying to watch play out on my screen. López takes the transition from childhood to adulthood to a whole new level in this film.

Women Cast and Crew (according to IMDB)

Issa López … Director, Writer, Executive Producer 

Paola Lara … Actress (Estrella)

Tania Benítez … Co-producer

Andrea Abbiati … Casting

Isabel Cortázar … Casting

Ana Solares … Art Direction

Andrea de Luna … Costume Design

Daniela M. García Morales … Costume Design

Bertha Romero … Costume Design

Itzel Soriano … Costume Design

Tania Benítez … Production Executive

Vanessa Hernández … Post-production Supervisor

Daniela Sanchez Battenberg … Second Second Assistant Director / Kid Wrangler

Hiromi Kamata … First Assistant Director

Alejandra Treviño … Second Second Assistant Director

Lisa Cota … Art Dept. Coordinator

Nadine Karakachoff … Decorator

Irene Zamora … Assistant Art Director

Tara Blume … Foley Artist

Michelle Couttolenc … Re-recording Mixer Assistant

Marlene Zermeño … Assistant sound editor

Giselle Amkie … Digital Compositor

Alejandra García Zúñiga … Visual Effects Coordinator

Ingrid Juliao … Digital Compositor: Flipbook Studio

Samantha Salinas del Castillo … Digital Compositor

Jessica Arzate … Second Assistant Camera

Tania Barajas Marquez … Assistant Camera

Perla Carpio … Post-production Assistant

Claudia Mera … Post-production Coordinator

Lorenna Ramirez … Post-production Coordinator

Alejandra Sandoval … Location Coordinator

Jimena Moreno … Production Coordinator

Geraldine Orta … Post-production Facilities Manager

Fátima Toledo … Acting Coach