In Broad Daylight: The Narvarte Case

Unfortunately, although the intentions of In Broad Daylight: The Narvarte Case are noble, the execution is confusing, overlong, and inconclusive. The filmmakers often get lost in the weeds, to the degree that we can no longer follow what point they're trying to make. Is the evidence leading us to conclude that there was a political aspect to the crime, or were the victims actually caught in a drug or sex dispute? In short, much of this is either too long, too ponderous, or just incomprehensible. It takes a full hour to tell us that once researchers gained access to CCTV footage, the government theory on the killings unraveled. With regard to creating maximum suspense and comprehension, everything is told in the wrong order.

Additionally, a good documentary's biggest challenge is often how to create visual interest. Here we have long minutes of blurry photocopied documents dominating the visuals. The featured documents are barely legible. They're intercut with sometimes moving and sometimes dull talking heads and reenactments using both actors in a life-sized set and tiny dolls in a miniature version of the scene. It's clear the filmmakers worked hard on this, so it's unfortunate that the result isn't more engrossing.