Estrella (Paola Lara), right, in Tigers Are Not Afraid (Shudder)

 Occasionally horror and fantasy takes on social themes directly. J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings was a direct response to World War I. Wes Craven’s underrated People Under the Stairs commented on racism and gentrification, and, of course, there’s The Handmaid’s Tale, which, even as its relevance becomes more and more prophetic, is still, at its heart, a dystopian sci-fi novel. Tigers Are Not Afraid falls squarely in the social commentary camp and, with its breadth of imagination and unflinching look at the ravages and results of Mexico’s gang warfare, leaps to the top of the heap.

The film begins with a young boy, Shine (Juan Ramón López), stealing a drunken man’s phone and gun. Turns out the man is a local gang member who is likely responsible for the death and disappearance of the family of Shine’s friend, and possibly his own. We then move to a classroom where a teacher exhorts her students to create a fairy tale. The lesson gets interrupted by gunfire just outside of the school. The students hit the ground. Among them is Estrella (Paola Lara), and the teacher gives her three pieces of chalk and tells her they represent three wishes. School is dismissed, and when Estrella comes home, she finds out her mother is missing. Left alone for a couple of days, she breaks one of the pieces of chalk and wishes for her mother to return, which is the girl’s first mistake.

Hungry and afraid, Estrella leaves her apartment, now haunted by her mother’s ghost, to join Shine’s band of orphans, who live on a nearby rooftop. The rest of the story concerns the children running from gangsters, including the one whose phone Shine stole. Meanwhile, Estrella continues to run from her mother’s spirit. Shine’s gang mirrors the macho toughness of the groups they fear, but Shine feels a responsibility to take care of his charges. He exhorts one of them to eat the peas in his instant noodle soup, because “Those are your veggies.” On another occasion, he tells a bedtime story to the youngest of the group. However, Shine is less forgiving toward Estrella. “Women always bring bad luck,” he snarls at one point, which in his world makes sense, since girls are most likely to attract gang members’ attention…and the most likely to disappear.

Director/writer Issa López deftly weaves the fantastic into the lives of these young orphans. Estrella is the only one who seems aware and believes that supernatural events are occurring. López toys with us. We are not quite sure if what we see is an effect of the trauma Estrella is suffering or if something otherworldly is going on. The effects themselves are subtle and, for the most part, distinctive. The elements of fantasy never overshadow the actual violence and danger inherent in the world these children live in and the loss they endure. Frankly, when your options are death by torture or confronting the ghost of your mother, it’s six of one and a half dozen of the other.

The dynamic of the kids is very reminiscent of Stephen King and Charles Dickens. You have King’s cusp-of-innocence vibe, especially when the group finds an abandoned hotel to stay in, and Dickens’s exposure of social ills. These kids are forced together by dire circumstances and make the best of it, and López gets great performances from the young actors. Lara as Estrella gives a refreshing, honest performance, and López as Shine just drips with charisma.

Although the movie will be one big downer, be assured there is quite a bit of humor, such as a mock American Idol–type talent show the kids put on for each other. The director makes sure that you stay engaged rather than depressed. Even when the supernatural takes over and the stakes get higher, López reaches for the heartstrings before the butcher’s knife.

In the long run, Tigers Are Not Afraid does what the best social issue films do. It moves and entertains you, and makes you aware of a problem that needs addressing.