La Yuma
Isolated, suffering from clichés, far away from North America, but also from the South… Central America today is a victim of the syndrome of indifference. And the few incursions of this region of the world on the media theater only occur for tragic events or natural disasters. So when the cinema is interested in it and offers an insight into the daily life of a poor neighborhood of Managua, it can only generate interest. Especially since it is the first film shot in Nicaragua for 20 years and many of the actors are amateurs and play their own role.
French documentary filmmaker Florence Jaugey, who lives in Nicaragua, stages Yuma, a young Nicaraguan in a constant struggle. A struggle against her family, against the prejudices of men, against her neighborhood and the contempt of upper classes. A struggle against herself when, in order to escape her daily life, she climbs into the ring, puts on boxing gloves and fights for, maybe one day, stop fighting. Strong and wild outside, she is also fragile into her family, exposed to the looks and remarks of a stepfather without morality. And she is also, somehow, the only hope of her brothers and sisters not to fall in the absolute cynicism from an early age.
One day Yuma meets Ernesto. He represents everything she is not. Rich, educated, sociable and a journalism student. Irony of history: she meets him because her younger brother had stolen his handbag. They attract each other, she pushes him away. They begin a relationship doomed from the start by the wall that separates them. Another dark film, describing the violence of Latin American societies, an unwinnable class war that would only add to the long list of items that are echoed by Western media, then? Not really. Amidst the harsh reality that the viewer gets full mouth, just like a straight right from the young heroine,”La Yuma” offers a glimpse of hope. Whether it can be in the solidarity of people, in the exile or in the dream. And it manages to transforms shots into a communicative energy.
The trailer :
Barrio latino 