Taking place on a coffee plantation which sits at the foot of an active volcano in Guatemala, Jayro Bustamante's Ixcanul offers up a window into a culture very different than our own, exhibiting a near anthropological study of this lifestyle as it touches on universal truths about rebellion, oppression, and the consequences that lie in-between. The story is centered around Maria, a seventeen-year old girl, who awaits to married to the farm's foreman, Ignacio, an arranged marriage formed by their parents. Knowing nothing about the world outside of her own limited experiences, Maria herself becomes intoxicated by the sense of the unknown which sits on the other side of the Volcano, a curiosity which is only reinforced by a local boy Pepe, who has grown tired of the traditions and customs of this Mayan culture. Pepe speaks of going away to America, a concept which Maria begins to romanticize about herself, naively viewing Pepe as the source of escape from the oppressive nature of the world which surrounds her. While it is not apparent at first, it becomes clear that Pepe has little empathy for Maria, seducing her to fulfill not only his carnal desires but help expedite his plans for venturing to America. When Pepe leaves her behind, Maria is forced to reconsider the world and culture in which she inhabits, now dealing with the consequences of deception due to being pregnant with Pepe's child. Observational, tragic, and understated in approach, Jayro Bustamante's Ixcanul is a film that transports the viewer into a world unlike our own, using it to tell a very powerful and universal story about the cold realities of the world in which we inhabit, one in which our actions always have confidence. One of the more unique films I've seen about the intellectual awakening that takes place in adolescence, Ixcanul is a film that takes its time to unfold, with much of the film's first half being a observational study of the life which Maria leads, documenting the culture and traditions which shape her experiences and help explain her curiosities about what lies outside of the world in which she knows. With her arranged marriage being finalized, Ixcanul exhibits how Maria is at a time in her life where she is being indoctrinated into this culture, a step which effectively strips her of her youthful curiosities, which in turn reinforces her decisions to lash out against this oppressive custom. With this in mind, it's important to understand that Jayro Bustamante's film shows very little judgment about this culture, only showing an interest in exhibiting the universal truths that exist in any society or way of life when it comes to youthful rebellion, self-discovery, and the consequences of life which rest around every turn. From a visual design perspective, Ixcanul is meditative, simple, yet striking, featuring mostly static compositions that evoke a calming presence and a sense of connection with nature. The volcano itself lurks in the background throughout Ixcanul, with this massive piece of rock serving as an almost symbolic representation of Maria's feelings of entrapment/oppression early on. The idyllic visual design, the wide spacing and calming presence are completely abandoned later in the film, when Maria and her parents find themselves frantically in the city, as the filmmaker's visual design brilliantly shifts to more constraining compositions, even offering up handheld photography which evokes the frantic nature of the big city and the mental state of these characters. Jayro Bustamante's Ixcanul is a powerful and tragic study of rebellion and consequences, a film that works so well due to its observant lens and tactful design that never throws judgement on these characters or this culture but simply wishes to tackle the universal truths that exist in all of humanity.
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June 2023
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