The film La teta asustada (Claudia Llosa, 2009) was inspired by the text titled Entre prójimos: El conflicto armado interno y la política de la reconciliación en el Perú by the medical anthropologist Kimberly Theidon. In this study, Theidon compiles the testimonies of a group of indigenous women who were sexually assaulted by members of revolutionary groups and the Peruvian army during a period of intense political and economic turmoil in the country. Llosa reinterprets the essence of the testimonies and the imprint of trauma in the film without depicting explicit violence, but rather through a highly poetic narrative and aesthetics. This study highlights the significance of breast milk in the film, the fear that invades the protagonist’s body, and the use of singing as a catalyst of oppression. Walter Benjamin’s “phantasmagoria” is the central theoretical concept used to examine physical patterns associated with the distress hidden in the individual and collective unconscious. The potato plant, the arid landscape, and the old aristocracy relics that carry high metaphorical signification are discussed using this theoretical framework, while also emphasizing the effectiveness of Llosa’s visual subtleness in depicting the essence of trauma as a shocking consequence of violence against civilians in a state of war.