Mexican movie time: Grames

I love a good movie. Or good offer. Or a good book. Really, I just want a convincing story to sink my teeth. I also think that consuming stories from other cultures is a great way to get to know them, and practice language while you are in it!

So it is clear that I am very excited about Mexico in general, I really enjoy searching for movies and Mexican shows. For my years as a writer here, I reviewed many films: Que Viva Mexico, TK, TK … I even made a list of some Mexican TV recommendations! According to my editor, it’s one of your most readable articles from last year.

That gave me an idea. I watch all these things anyway – can I write reviews of what I see?

Well, children, we are about to know that. I hope that everyone will read and comment on it and say my editor, “G, this is a success! We will now pay you to watch the Mexican TV and films and give us your smart and strange interpretations.” (Note the editors: Good luck with that.)

So let’s divide this into sections. We will address what is going on the movie and the general arc of the story. We will talk about characters. We will talk about the things that make them very Mexican and what the story says about Mexican culture.

Today’s films are one of the favorites that I have seen recently, the 2015 movie by Anwar Pinfita and Anna Sophia Clairi, Jermas. I discovered this by chance one day on Netflix and immediately loved her.

What about

Caution: spoilers in the future!

Jermas He tells the story of an eight -year -old boy in Sonora who lives with his young parents, grandmother, teenage uncle, and great grandmother. It is early and wonderful and truly tries his best to reach childhood.

His family gathered on the sofa to see the soap opera, and watch with them. The treasure ladies come to the house to give the company to the great grandfather, and they will be with their pepper with questions. All adults in his life say things that have no meaning except for a few logical areas, and he asks them – not in “I am more intelligent than you and I will reach holes in what you say to make you feel stupid” – but in a way that shows that he really wants to understand. The film could have been easily deviated to “I am surrounded by eediots!” Land, but it did not. Grammes loves his family.

The film begins by displaying the intelligence rate for different family members at different points, usually after they said something stupid. Jeramías, however, is a real genius. As you can imagine, things are not going well for him in his general school. But when two men befriending chess playing out of a book store, things change. One of the men goes to meet his parents and asks whether he might take Grammes to test. His mother finally gives permission, and soon they discovered that he has an IQ of 160.

This places Jeramías on an urgent mission of self -discovery: What does he want to be when he grows up? He writes to the author of a book on the geniuses of children in Mexico and tells his explosion. He prints pictures, in turn, Albert Einstein, Jim Morrison, Bobby Fisher, Mary Curry, and Alan Torring, and explores their follow -up in one footstep after another.

Finally, the author of the book appears to his home. Parents are required to obtain permission to transfer it to Mexico City to attend a special event, allow him and include them in a documentary on children’s geniuses. Grammes is happy to go. “I am very excited to make friends with children like me,” he says.

Mexican models

One thing I loved in the movie is that it offers different types of characters from all over Mexico. This was not shiny and luster, but it was not a scene of the misery of the poor. Here are some prominent characters:

parents. Both his parents are very young. The mother looks to “doing an important thing”, and works to end her high school degree, although the father believes that he is a waste of time. She spends her days to do household chores and cooking. It is clear that the father is less intelligent between the two and works in the store. He is not a deep thinker, and he is happy to not question the way things take care, and take everything as it is. Despite his clear lack of intelligence, he is “the head of the family.” When he realizes that the genius of Grames may earn them some money, he is proud of them instead of embarrassment because of his anomaly.

extended family. He and his parents live with his little grandmother and her son-teenager-and great grandmother. The grandmother is indisputable in its condemnation, and it often tells Grammes, with his mother, that he should not question certain things. (“Did you notice that no one says anything bad about the dead?”

Older friends. Jeramías friends are the only two men in the 1960s. One of them is a Spanish who owns a book selling, and the other is a Mexican shepherd who plays with them. Jerames meets first when he “hides” behind them, and requests protection from fatwas. The Spaniard is the person who takes him for the test, and works as his only real recognition in the movie. They discuss books and philosophy, and he is one of the only people who Crumbenais can ask questions and obtain sincere and studied answers.

Fatwat. The Uncle of Gramas, after discovering his genius, makes him mistake to hang with his friends with the hidden motivation of forcing him to carry out all their school duties. Friends are the infiltrators who were running before. They feel outperforming the ability to benefit from it, but Grames decides to quickly abandon their company.

Mexico City crowd. The dominant character here is the author who is visiting Grames and takes to stay with him and meet with other children’s geniuses. All other children are rich families with intellectual parents who take over. This is the first exposure to the Keramiyas of the intellectual world of the upper class in the urban Mexico.

Le Maccacano (some cultural touches to search for them)

• Family unit: Living with the extended family, especially when there is not a lot of resources to wander, is common. Jeramías shares a room with his teenage uncle. “Where one eats, two can eat,” is a common Mexican saying.
• School system: Like most children in Mexico, Jerramías goes to the public school. A young teacher and does not enjoy interrogation. His mother, and then Grames, passes through “Prepa Abierta”, or distance learning, in order to obtain a high school diploma. There are only a few private (private) schools for children who are geniuses in Mexico, and can only be found in the main urban areas.
• the society: Jeramías lives in an unfamiliar medium -sized city where most people seem to know most of the other people.

Sarah Davrez He is a writer and translator based in Xalapa, Veracrose. It can be accessed through its website, Sarahedevries.substack.com.