If you are bored of modern comedies or horror Spanish movies and want to go back in time a bit, the movie La Jaula De Oro is perfect for you. Set in the year 2013 of young people who immigrate to America with dreams of life. The article below will help you have a more objective and specific view of the golden dream review.
Overview of La Jaula De Oro (The Golden Dream, 2013)
Genre: Drama
IMDb rating: 7.6/10
Director: Diego Quemada-Díez
Writer: Diego Quemada-Díez, Gibrán Portela, Lucía Carreras
Starring: Karen Noemí Martínez Pineda, Rodolfo Domínguez, Brandon López
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La Jaula De Oro Summary
Despite having been shown at the Cannes Film Festival in 2013, La Jaula De Oro’s movie tackles a timely topic: unaccompanied migrant adolescents from Central America to the United States. It was Mexican-Spanish filmmaker Diego Quemada-first Dez’s and only feature-length film, and it won multiple accolades at film festivals across the world, including nine Ariels from the Mexican Film Academy. The factual approach of the film – with no compromises to sentimentalism or melodrama –, the improvised or (semi)improvised conversations, and the employment of non-professional performers all show the influence of the latter.
Sara, Chauk, and Juan are the protagonists of the novel; a fourth character, Samuel, leaves the story early on. They set out from Guatemala on a perilous and unexpected journey to the United States on board La Bestia (the beast), a freight train that runs from south to north through Mexico and is utilized by many Central American migrants to reach the US border. The documentary approach of the film serves to highlight the film’s contentious and disturbing political and social concerns. Quemada-Dez collaborated with genuine migrants and used real settings in an attempt to become an observer of their surroundings.
Shows real-life occurrences (genuine migrants on board the real La Bestia) and puts his players in front of real-life situations. This isn’t a documentary, though; it’s a work of fiction with a dramatic plot. Indeed, this play not only spotlights one of the most horrific and heartbreaking crises in contemporary Latin America, child migration, but also two other special aspects: young women and indigenous migration.
We can clearly observe how migration impacts young women right from the start. Sara, well aware of her vulnerability, must conceal her gender identification in order to reach the North. Because of his ethnicity and language ‘limitations,’ Chauk, who only speaks Maya-Tzotzil, appears to be a sidelined and inadequate figure.
Surprisingly, it is these two characters that initiate contact and attempt to break through the communication barrier. Only individuals on the bottom rungs of migration, those with the most helpless and defective characteristics due to their gender, ethnicity, or language, appear to be capable of challenging stereotyped depictions of Latin American migrants. Surprisingly, Juan, the ladino (mixed race) youngster, is the one who promotes these stereotypical depictions of the “other.”
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The Golden Dream Review (La Jaula de Oro)
The title is originated from a Mexican ballad song, Jaula de Oro, about the hopelessness of those Mexicans who have successfully come to the United States but find it a “golden age” because America accepts illegals’ cheap labor – all the cooks, gardeners, and office-cleaners – without providing them with the proper residency papers they require to rise above the unidentified servant class. Despite this, the United States continues to be a magnet for Latin America’s underprivileged.
For his starring roles, Quemada-Diez has identified three superb non-professional performers. Juan and Sara, played by Brandon Lopez and Karen Martinez, are two kids yearning to escape from Guatemala, together with Chalk (Rodolfo Dominguez), a little Indian child they encounter. They plan on hopping boxcars and riding the rails up through Mexico and then over the border into California, with some US dollar bills sewn secretly into their jeans. This last part will require them to work their way through by volunteering as drug mules for gangs running heroin through secret crossing points. These defenseless youngsters face peril and virtually probable death at every step from predatory criminals who see their young lives as worthless.
Sara has carefully decided to disguise herself as a boy named “Oswaldo” by cutting her hair, wearing a cap, and taping up her chest under her shapeless T-shirt. It creates a poignant tension and there is even a tender sort of Jules et Jim frisson between the three of them. But to those hoping for a relaxing or romantic ending, the La Jaula de Oro ending has nothing to offer but a grim reality. It is a very essential movie, with great compassion and urgency.
It is obvious that this dramatic film has been constructed by the filmmaker to emphasize character development and socio-political critique. Because, like in any self-respecting’ road movie (or rail movie, to be more precise), we see our three protagonists’ brains evolve as their bodies travel. Along their trip, Sara, Chauk, and Juan learn to embrace one another and express solidarity with others who are “different.” And it doesn’t matter how that voyage ends (well, it does, but let’s try to have a positive hopeful viewpoint for a bit); what matters is how they manage to commit to one another in the face of adversity; despite the snow pouring persistently over Juan’s head.
Hopefully, the golden dream review above will help you have a comprehensive view of the life aspirations of three young people in the US. Up to now, this film has been played on many platforms such as Netflix, Amazon, or HBO max. However, if you would like to discover a new one to try out more genres of Spanish film, do not hesitate to visit us – the Spanishlanguagemovie website to satisfy your passion.
