Maite Alberdi’s Film Recasts 13-Year Baby Kidnapping Case Through a Faked Pregnancy in Mexico
Updated
Updated · The Guardian · Jul 28
Maite Alberdi’s Film Recasts 13-Year Baby Kidnapping Case Through a Faked Pregnancy in Mexico
2 articles · Updated · The Guardian · Jul 28
Summary
Trial records led Maite Alberdi to overturn the story told by Eleonor Alejandra Marín Mendoza, who was serving a 13-year sentence for taking a newborn from a Mexican hospital.
Court evidence showed there was no prearranged handover with the mother, contradicting Alejandra’s account and indicating she posed as a social worker before leaving with the baby in a gift bag.
Alberdi kept A Child of My Own after confronting Alejandra, who still denies the evidence, and split the film between a telenovela-style reconstruction of Alejandra’s version and later interviews with the judge, psychologist and baby’s mother.
The documentary shifts from true-crime mechanics to the pressure around motherhood in Mexico and Latin America, which Alberdi says still drives women to hide miscarriages and endure judgment.