THE VIRGIN OF JUAREZ, follows L.A. journalist Karina Danes (Minnie Driver) who has come to Juarez to write about maquiladoras, foreign owned factories that attract poor workers despite the sweatshop conditions. Over time, nearly 400 of the women working there have been raped and killed. Danes receives help from a Catholic priest, Father Herrera (Esai Morales,) and a community activist, Patrick Nuncio (Angus McFadden.) While there, Danes meets Mariela (Anna Claudia Talancon) a teenager who left her family for the promise of Juarez. Mareila survives an attack but is left straddling two worlds. While in recovery, she experiences intense visions and stigmata. As the story of her ordeal spreads, she attracts a following and starts to preach out of an abandoned church.As threats increase, Father Herrera and Danes help her move to the relative safety of Los Angeles. Based on a true story, THE VIRGIN OF JUAREZ combines issues of politics, fanaticism and religion with murder, violence and redemption.
