Ixcanul

For a Mayan family of three living on misty and sable volcano slopes, snakes come in both reptile and human form. Blessings are bestowed upon the family as well. 17 year old Maria dreams of life on the other side of the volcano. This place she dreams of, stretching from the other side of the volcano, across all of Mexico and into the United States, is nowhere that anyone she knows has ever been. Yet her pleasant life picking coffee, cooking and taking care of farm animals is too sedate for her. She intends to bolt from an arranged marriage with her father's boss. In doing so she sets herself up for confrontations between needs; company and independence, city and country, adventure and stability, Mayan and Spanish, and more. In this struggle the real character of Maria will become more apparent.

If exquisite cinematography is your thing, you will like this unlikely yet appealing pairing of Guatemala and France. The acting is more convincing for the local talent, for even the best actors in the world would not make convincing Mayans. Kaqchikel is the film language. Ixcanul is available by Netflix snail mail delivery, a delivery that matches the gentle and pleasing pace of the film.

I've long been interested in Mayan mythology and culture, so when I heard about a new movie from Guatemala in the Maya language, I knew it was a film I wanted to see. "Ixcanul" is the Maya word for volcano, which looms large in the film, both physically and as a psychological barrier between this village and the rest of the world.

Maria is a teenage girl, beautiful and bold. She lives with her parents, their only child, on a coffee plantation. Her parents have arranged her marriage to the plantation foreman, but neither seem particularly enthused about it. Instead, Maria dreams of escaping to the United States with a local worker. Despite her best attempts to get Pepe's agreement to take her with him North, she never secures a committed response. Her actions, however, have significant repercussions for her and her family.

This could be a film about the uncaring and unsympathetic corporate owners of the plantations, or it could be about the ignorance of peasant life in the Guatemalan villages, or it could be a film that romanticizes North American culture and lifestyle, but it is none of these things. What it is, is an intimate and honest story of a brief moment in time of a family caught on the crossroads of tradition and modernity. "Ixcanul" is Guatemala's first entry in the Academy Awards for Foreign Language Film, and it certainly deserves to win. I am intrigued by the language and have a few unanswered questions, so it is likely I will pick this one up for the collection when released.

I had the wonderful experience of watching this film with my Quiché goddaughter, who found the story real and compelling. Maria, 17, is betrothed by her parents to a young man--a decision in which she has no say. Her heart, however, leads her in another direction and therein lies the story's heart. The reality of daily life for thousands of Mayan Guatemalans, many of whom speak only their indigenous language, is conveyed with a realism that never patronizes. It is the daily struggle for life, for work, and dealing in an emergency with a power structure that is far from the experience of those who must confront it. One comment about the description: The film is bilingual: Spanish and Kakchiquel, one of 22 Mayan languages spoken in Guatemala, none of which can communicate with the other. I asked my goddaughter--who is trilingual (Kiché, Spanish, and English)--if she understood any of the Kakchiquel dialogue. "No" was her answer.

Ixcanul is a cinematic chef-d'oeuvre that sheds light on the plight of many indigenous Guatemalans who suffer from almost unfathomable levels of economic, social, and political exploitation. The film has many heart-breaking moments where the powerlessness of the film's protagonists comes through in a way that feels deeply real and authentic. One of the most interesting aspects of this films is that it is the first feature film created in Kaqchikel, one of the many indigenous Mayan languages of Guatemala. The actors are all native speakers of Kaqchikel, and the filmmakers overcame significant difficulties to assemble the cast that they did. The fact that the actors are so inexperienced makes the film all the more incredible because it did not at moment seem faked, at least for me. I would also like to address some of the criticism that has been levelled at the film and the filmmakers. The problem of orthography, that the title uses a c instead of a k, following modern (instead of colonial) spelling conventions, seems like minutiae compared to all of the positive work the film does in raising awareness of many of the problems indigenous Guatemalans face on a routine basis. Many also say the film only reinforces stereotypes about indigenous peoples in Guatemala and in the Americas more broadly. In that for many people this film will be their first exposure to contemporary Mayans, there is a risk of Ixcanul becoming a single story that defines an entire people. But it is the choice of the spectator to determine whether or not he/she will extrapolate stereotypes about an entire people from the portrayal of one family in one village at one specific point in time. However, if you look beyond these somewhat valid criticisms, you will see a cinematic masterpiece that will make you look at the world in a different way.

Ixtanul is a very unique film in that it causes the viewers to question. This film essentially about a young girl named Maria, who prepares for her arranged wedding (set by her parents) as she overcomes unusual obstacles along the way. Although this film is slow and not very action-packed, it taught me a lot about Mayan culture and tradition in Guatemala. This film was unlike any film I have ever seen because of its mystery and lack of sound. There was almost no music in this film, which I thought was really interesting because it added uniqueness to the film. Also, the camera angles and shots were very different than most other films. Overall, this film taught me more about Guatemalan society than I have ever known.