Bagatela

Seen from the sky, the courthouse is a fortress. Moreover, there is no façade, as if once over the threshold of this huge edifice, there is no way out again. Inside there is a maze of stairways, corridors, impersonal spaces where cleaning women are forever at work. In this labyrinth of Colombian justice, where everything is designed to lead lost souls even further astray, it is they alone who find their way. The cases judged here involve petty crimes, “trifles”: the theft of cell phones, of perfume worth 7 €, a phone cable… The accused all have the same profile: young, poor, homeless, in tragic family situations. Opposite them, court-appointed lawyers plead case after case non-stop. They have one miracle solution: “to plead guilty”. (Yann Lardeau)