La Laguna

Filmmaker Aaron Schock's intimate, beautifully shot documentary centers on 12-year-old Yu'uk and his little brother, José, who live in the verdant rainforests of southern Mexico, an area so remote that the siblings speak Mayan and don't appear to have any modern conveniences. At the one-room schoolhouse that the boys attend, they are learning to speak Spanish, although they would rather swim, set off firecrackers, and fish in the lagoon than study. Neither child has received much in the way of formal education. In voiceover, Yu'uk ponders, "I don't know what Mexico is. Is it city?" Yu'uk's teacher's inability to speak Mayan, combined with the latter's use of corporal punishment, adds to Yu'uk's disinterest in school. In Yu'uk's family's cosmology, God made the Earth, but he'll destroy it when it's run its course, and a new one will rise up in its place. Further, instead of pants and shirts, Yu'uk and José wear white cotton tunics, and with their long hair, both cut rather androgynous figures. Yu'uk enjoys his day-to-day life, but his mother considers sending him to school in another town to secure a better education. She expects him to become the head of the household after his elderly father dies. Yu'uk worries about missing his little brother, a more delicate creature. "I love him a lot," Yu'uk says, but change is coming for this family who seem to exist outside of contemporary society. An interesting portrait, this is recommended. Aud: C, P. (K. Fennessy)