Just hours after sharing behind the scenes of the shoot for “Barreda”, the film that recreates one of the criminal cases that shook Argentina the most, Carla Peterson participated in an interview on El diario de Mariana (America), where she reflected on the approach the movie sought to give to the story. In particular, the actress spoke about shaping the four women murdered by Ricardo Barreda.
During the program, Peterson, who portrays Gladys McDonald, explained that the film aims to focus on the violence those women suffered and to recover their stories beyond the figure of their killer. In that sense, she recalled that, at the time, Barreda was presented by certain sectors of society as an almost admirable figure, while his crimes were turned into objects of celebration.
“It was celebrated through songs, stickers, tattoos,” recalled the actress when referring to the media and cultural treatment the case received in 1992.
Furthermore, during the interview it was noted that at that time the term femicide had not yet been used to refer to murders of women for gender-related reasons. The film seeks, precisely, to recover the victims’ perspective and show the different forms of violence that their lives endured.
Carla Peterson and the Challenge of Portraying Gladys McDonald
Peterson acknowledged that constructing Gladys McDonald was an especially complex task, since there were very few photographs of the woman. To approach her, the actress had to rely on research and available testimonies.
Meanwhile, Maite Lanata and Margarita Páez, who portray Cecilia and Adriana, Gladys’s daughters, were able to speak with people close to the murdered women. “They were able to talk with the friends of the girls who are now women roughly my age,” Peterson said.
“What we were trying to recreate was how they lived, that era, those dreams, at what stage of their lives they were,” she reflected on the work she carried out with her fellow cast members.
The actress also explained that different testimonies allowed reconstructing everyday aspects of the victims. “Younger women aged 22, 23, a neighbor, patients—these were the ones who told the stories of these women.”
The Research Behind the Characters of “Barreda”
When building their characters, the actresses did not limit themselves to the statements Barreda had made about what happened. Peterson highlighted the substantial research and archival analysis conducted during the film’s preparation.
“There was a very large amount of research; there were a lot of data. The director knew what she was going to tell, because everything is told from the head of this man: you see that everything bothers him,” she stated.
From there, the team began to reconstruct the relationships and the pivotal moments each of the women experienced.
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Angel
I write about fashion with a personal eye for detail, elegance, and real-life style. Through Angel’s Boutique, I share honest reviews, boutique finds, and style notes for women who want inspiration that feels feminine, modern, and easy to make their own.