(Dreaming Nicaragua Poster via http://www.unaff.org/2011/images/ff_dreaming.jpg)
10/27/16
During LACS20, I was first exposed to the film Dreaming Nicaragua. The movie was made produced in 2009 and produced by Marcelo Bukin and Amy Lo. The film focuses on the lives of certain families throughout Nicaragua. Primarily, Bukin shows the audience gives us a glimpse into the everyday life of a couple of Nicaraguan children: Yuri, Nauri, Josef, and Izabel. Bukin also introduces us to an art teacher, Jafet, who travels across Nicaragua teacher and giving children a chance to express themselves. One thing I really enjoyed about the film was how even though the lives of many of the children in the film were not always the best, they were able to simply… be children when they were working on art. They had the chance to escape their living conditions and let creativity flow, letting their minds act like how they should at that age instead of having the stress of helping their families thrive.
The story behind the children in the documentary were very interesting and inspiring. For instance, Nauri was a remarkable girl. She was an aspirin TV personality who interviews adult and child neighbors for her daily series. What made it so unique was the type of interviews she had and the content it covered. Instead of superficial topics, this 10 year old girl asks questions about teenage pregnancy, single mothers, alcoholism, and domestic violence. An interesting note that made contributed to the lighthearted dynamic of the film were the conditions the interview took place. For instance, most of the interviews were conducted in an open, casual areas. Furthermore, as intelligent as Nauri is for her age, many of the topics she spoke about she has only a slight understanding of everything they entails. Honestly, I think because of that is how many of the interviewees answered honestly without taking any offense.
My favorite character in the documentary was Yuri. With her family living off of a garbage dump (literally… the walls and chairs of her home come from the dump), she does what she can to always have a positive mindset and hold a smile on her face. For instance, when asked about how difficult it may be to always be working, she said, “We work, but it’s fun too, because we are always playing”. Scenes like this really made me appreciate how mindset is everything at times. For instance Yuri mentioned how she frequently would find dolls around the dump. However, one time she found a cigarette box with 50 pesos and a gold chain. Even though she usually finds nothing special on the dump, she continues to be hopeful seeks value in all of experiences.
The reason I enjoyed this film so much was also how Bukin was not overly depressing as well as not being overly optimistic. For instance, at the end of the film, the audience discovers the future a couple years later for some of the families and kids. Two years after they worked with Yuri, we find out they even though she was hopeful to become a model, she falls into teenage pregnancy and drops of school. Although disheartening news, it puts a reality on the lives of many of the families and how there is no “easy fix”. The environment around us, in many cases, can strongly determine our future. This was the ending for Yuri and many young women across Latin America in similar situations. Nonetheless, Dreaming Nicaragua was one of my favorite films I have seen this year and it really puts things in context on the living conditions of not only some Nicaraguans, but many people across the world. As well as how as much as we try to do the right thing, good things may not always result. Still, we can try to do what we can to help and not have unfortunate outcomes like this serve as an excuse to not bother trying.