Colossal is a compelling documentary from debut filmmaker Nayibe Tavares-Abel, rife with personal trauma; it maintains its intimate tone despite not allowing itself enough runtime to fully explore its topics.
Filmmaker Nayibe Tavares-Abel digs into her family’s past and unearths the political secrets of the Dominican Republic. Through archives and probing questioning, she discovers a history of election fraud and dictatorship, sparking thoughts of present-day activism.
Having a grandparent who was at the centre of a major political scandal in your country is certainly an interesting conversation starter. To also have an activist uncle who was martyred over the same scandal makes it something that you have to talk about. Luckily for us, Nayibe Tavarares-Abel successfully tackles and couples the personal narrative of the pain and generational trauma within one family with the corruption of the Dominican Republic government.
With her debut feature, Colossal, Travares-Abel takes a patient, almost quiet tone when discussing her family during this period of time; those who she interviews are full of trepidation, not in sharing secrets of the dictatorship that has embedded itself in their country for so many decades, but in having to reawaken deeply buried trauma that has been sitting in them for over 30 years. It’s a purposefully painful watch; you ache for the participants as the memories come flooding back, and you can’t help but admire their courage in confronting such hurtful memories.
At times, a delicate entity of generational trauma, it becomes a truly fascinating watch, especially for those who are not as knowledgeable about the history of the Dominican Republic. There is great, inescapable honesty being shown throughout that grips you. Tavares-Abel begins by wanting to reveal the truth about that election and the role her family played in it, and soon uncovers something far more nefarious and traumatic. The film’s revelations about the country’s ongoing corruption are both enlightening and disheartening for the audience.
Despite this, there are some struggles; the creative flairs used throughout do not always work. The use of the family tree, which serves as a way to tie the story to the next participant, acts as a distraction from telling a more complicated and emotional story to her audience. This leads us to the other core issue with Colossal: it doesn’t give itself enough time to tell both aspects of the story it is telling. Truncating both narratives, you lose the chance to let the more emotionally powerful moments sit with you due to their short runtime. It becomes a documentary that could easily have had another 15 minutes added to it and still be a lean story.
If it had been a film that weaved her family history into the historical political corruption within the Dominican Republic, it would have felt like a stronger documentary, especially if it had tied in how her grandfather tried and failed to do the right thing and how her uncle was the victim of being outspoken yet truthful. However, by moving more into the family dynamic and the political history, it loses its potency. This is a shame as the film keeps grabbing you in moments before reluctantly letting you go.
Colossal occasionally stumbles, but for the majority of the film, it is a resounding and highly engaging success, with Nayibe Tavares-Abel showing herself as a filmmaker of much promise with a strong voice that we should listen to.
★★★
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