The Guardian of the Monarchs

Emiliano Ruprah de Fina's 2024 documentary is about Homero Gomez Gonzalez, who protected the area in the forests of Michoacan where monarch butterflies overwinter. Gomez opened the reserve to visitors, spoke loudly against illegal logging, and disappeared in January 2020. The documentary runs two lines together. On one side are the scale of the migration and the forest economy; on the other, the investigation that followed the disappearance. Gomez was found dead in a well two weeks later; the autopsy reported head trauma and drowning, and the case reached no firm conclusion. The film points to no single culprit. Illegal logging, local interests and the contest over tourist income are all shown at once, and not knowing the outcome becomes the documentary's own subject. Who it's for: those interested in environmental struggle and the safety of activists in Latin America. Who it's not for: viewers expecting a definite answer; the case is unclosed and the film does not invent one.