The Chosen Ones 2015

A relationship forms between Ulysis and Sofia, a bond that soon uncovers a chilling truth about the family they’re entangled with. The film reveals that Ulysis is being groomed by his own relatives to lure his lovers into a prostitution network that has become the backbone of the family’s business. As the pair grows closer, Sofia’s trust deepens, and Ulysis finds himself torn between affection and obedience to a system designed to exploit him as much as his partners.

The narrative intensifies as Sofia, the first woman to fall for Ulysis, becomes the target of the family’s predatory plan. Despite his genuine feelings for her, Ulysis makes a desperate, ultimately unsuccessful stand to shield her from the impending exploitation. The family’s callous calculus becomes brutal arithmetic: Sofia can gain her freedom only if Ulysis can replace her with another girl who will join the brothel. With that dark demand hanging over him, Ulysis sets out to honeytrap another potential victim, moving in a pattern of coercion that mirrors the complicit violence surrounding him.

Meanwhile, Sofia’s fate grows grimmer as she is forced into sexual slavery and begins to lose hope. A glimmer of possibility appears when a well-meaning stranger—posing as a client—offers help to escape, but the moment of action is cut short. Ulysis arrives and retrieves Sofia, taking her to live with him while forcing another captive, Marta, to take her place. The cycle of entrapment continues, and Sofia is compelled to stay within the household as a supposed “savior’s” ward, bound by strict rules that keep her from seeing her family.

The emotional weight of the story thickens as Sofia is educated by the household’s conditions to assume responsibility for the children who live there—some of whom are themselves the offspring of other enslaved women. The promise of care is overshadowed by trauma; Sofia is no longer the carefree young woman Ulysis remembers. She becomes increasingly distant, haunted by what she has endured and by the unsettling knowledge that another girl has been trapped in her place. Ulysis, for his part, appears to feel a sense of grief, yet his actions remain tethered to the family’s expectations, offering no decisive steps toward freeing her.

The film culminates in a restrained, uneasy moment rather than a dramatic escape. In a scene that feels almost normal on the surface, Sofia and Ulysis share a quiet outing with the rest of Ulysis’s family. The tension is palpable as Sofia, seated across from him, maintains a guarded stillness—her fear unspoken, her past continually pressing in on the present. The outward normalcy masks a deeper, unresolved reality: the power dynamics, manipulation, and fear that continue to shape their lives.

Throughout, the story is a stark meditation on control, loyalty, and the corrosive effects of a family system built on exploitation. It invites viewers to consider how affection can exist within a framework of coercion, and how the weight of family ties can both compel and imprison. The characters navigate a landscape where every gesture is scrutinized, where freedom is conditional, and where hope flickers against a backdrop of ongoing abuse.

Cast note: the film features performances by Raquel Presa, Nancy Talamantes, Alicia Quiñonez, Óscar Torres, José Santillán Cabuto, Leidi Gutiérrez, and Edward Coward.