In Omar Deneb Juárez’s Isla Soledad, we are given a world far too many know and struggle to get out of. However, optimism has to remain despite the darkness, and he shows us that. This is an impressive short film.
After losing custody of her young son, single mother Sonia struggles to make amends for her past mistakes and pleads for a chance to bring him back home. To do so, she must overcome her financial constraints and the complicated care of her sick grandmother.
Sonia is a dreamer, a hopeless optimistic dreamer. She doesn’t want much in life, just the chance to be with her son, to see him smile and for them to feel the sand in between their toes on the beach. Yet life has other plans for her, plans that involve her government from taking her son away and for her to battle to improve her circumstances to get him back.
Sonia is seemingly stuck in a vicious and cruel loop of grinding out enough hours to care for her grandmother and just about keeps her head above water. Anything else, including paying for an electrician who will not swindle her, is just that inch out of reach. She is doing her best, but fate isn’t interested. It wants to remain cruel and just expect her to take it. Yet in Isla Soledad, you get that this is the case for many more women like Sonia, that devastatingly, her story is repeated everywhere throughout the country and even the world. Low-income single mothers will always be handicapped in getting the right boost they need in life to help themselves and their children.
Leidi Gutiérrez is great here as the struggling mother, playing her quiet determination so well. The smallest inkling of a memory or thought of her son has a smile and a twinkle form in her eye. Yet, every time a setback happens, be it not getting that bit of extra money from her boss, her grandmother’s conditioning worsening, or that damn electricity not coming on, a deadness appears in those once twinkling eyes. Devastating to the brim, you see the life, the soul drains out of her in those situations, and Gutiérrez more than rises to the occasion as an actor to pull off this challenging role.
With cinematographer Olivia Luengas’ camera, some stunning imagery is formed in Isla Soledad; when we venture off into those beach hazes with Sonia and her son, you wish you were there with them. Enjoying life as a family should, however, as Juárez teaches us again and again in his film, life isn’t like that, not real life for those on the breadline. They have to scratch and claw for every little thing, and it is such a horrible despairing thing to witness. But, we live in hope, like Sonia, that good fortune is around the corner and dreams can be what’s in that snow globe.
★★★★
The 19th HollyShorts Film Festival is running between 10th – 20th August with in person and digital screenings available throughout.
For more information go to www.hollyshorts.com
Coverage of Hollyshorts Film Festival 2023:
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