The past can be a stubborn hunter. This was demonstrated in Azam Ahmed's laborious article for The New York Times, which told the story of Miriam Rodriguez, a mother from Mexico who chased her daughter's murderers and kidnappers like a legion of detectives for three years.

The controversial story was recently acquired, in competition with sixteen interested parties, by Blumhouse. The production studio has already confirmed that together with the executive producer of The New York Time, a film script is in the works.

The story, published in December, was extremely controversial because it represented everything that goes wrong in Mexico, and especially the arid margins where citizens are displaced by the ineffectiveness of justice.

Objectively, Rodriguez is a unique avenger and detective. Hers is also not the first Mexican story of this type to be made into a film.

In 2015 Rodrigo Plá (La Zona) followed another vigilante in Un monstruo de mil cabezas who sought medical treatment for her sick husband.

Karen Alejandra Salinas Rodríguez was kidnapped in January 2014 at the age of 16 in her neighborhood in San Fernando (Tamaulipas). After collecting several ransoms she was murdered by her captors.

For three years following her murder, her mother dedicated herself to chasing the murderers, changing her physical appearance, and becoming the most stealthy detective. She was patient to the point of posing as an official and made friends with the relatives of the persecuted.

Members of the Zetas' cartel, some had tried to erase clues by recreating themselves as cab drivers, nannies, and Christian converts. But it was not enough to hide from the revenge of a devoted mother.

In 2017, at the age of 56, she caught the last of them at gunpoint, who had turned into a flower vendor on the border.

A few weeks later, on Mother's Day, Rodriguez was killed in front of her home.

Controversial or not, her story is one full of real pain that deserves its own space and serves to point out the violence and impunity that tear Mexican communities apart. 

In such desperate times, revenge comes close to some virtues of justice.