Single mother Mónica works as a social worker in Mexico City. Her job is to help homeless and often drug-addicted teenagers to get off the street. Her son Omar is suffering from a degenerative eye disease. The operation that the 11-year-old really needs to save his sight is an impossible dream for Mónica due to the health system’s red tape and her financial situation. One night, homeless junkie Benjamín who Mónica worked with ends up in a beaten state outside her door. Mónica decides to go for an extreme solution.

Victoria and Michel Franco depict the lives of the homeless in Mexico City in documentary style for the film’s early scenes, then feed more elements of classic melodrama into it as the film progresses. Michel Franco’s previous works were mainly fictional and he made his name with After Lucy. For the documentary film Through the Eyes he has now collaborated with his sister, who has previously made short films and documentaries. Through the Eyes is Victoria Franco’s feature film debut and premiered in an extended cut version back in 2013 at the Morelia International Film Festival.