Sergio, who opened a wedding business in 2008, said the mayor’s office should ease business regulations and promote the city effectively rather than fussing about a movie. Case in point, he said: He was fined $250 last year for putting construction rubble in his own front yard and received another fine because a banner on his building exceeded size regulations.

“The role of the government is to bring investment,” said Sergio, who asked that his full name not be used because he has been the target of extortion. “It’s just a movie.”

And, he said, “let’s not try to block out the sun with one finger. This city is still problematic.”

Old problems surfaced on Oct. 3 when a police commander, Jesús Eduardo Alemán Medina, was gunned down outside his suburban residence. The city was shaken by the killings, that same week, of six women. Though the women died in unconnected circumstances, the cluster of killings raised the specter of the murder of hundreds of young women that gripped the city in the 1990s.

For many in Juárez, the bad old days are never far behind. Residents became grim or tearful when they were asked if they believed the city could return to chaos again.

The debate about “Sicario” has “opened up the wound,” said Ms. Pérez, the M.B.A. student. She said she would probably see the movie out of curiosity. “It’s just a piece of art,” she said. “But it hurts.”