'Utama' Review: Visually Stunning Bolivian Drama Explores the Dying Quechua Way of Life

[Judi Lynn]

Sundance: The film thrives when it combines magical realism with gorgeously precise cinematography.

Carlos Aguilar
Jan 22, 2022 7:45 pm



“Utama”

According to Andean legend, when the condor, an imposing South American bird with a long lifespan, decides there’s no longer a purpose to keep on flapping its enormous wings, the animal commits suicide by diving into the rocks. In Bolivian writer-director Alejandro Loayza Grisi’s sumptuously rendered debut feature “Utama” (Our Home), a comparable descent into hopelessness occurs for a human counterpart.

A respiratory ailment, rhythmic heavy breathing—like a water drip in the middle of the night—perpetually accompanies Virginio (Jose Calcina). Despite his deteriorating health, the elderly Quechua man remains resolute on staying in the now desolate and eroded Bolivian highlands with his wife Sisa (Luisa Quispe). Most of their neighbors have migrated in desperation because the rain that hasn’t been on schedule for a while. Scarce water puts their herding livelihood at dire risk.

“Utama” plays like a spiritual cousin to Peru’s 2018 Academy Awards entry “Wiñaypacha” (Eternity), about an aging couple in a remote corner of the Andes yearning for their son to return to visit them. Like them, the husband and wife in Loayza Grisi’s take on a nearly identical premise preserve their ancient way of living even though securing the most basic necessities has become extremely laborious. After all, Virginio thinks, what would they even do in the city?

However, with the arrival of their adult grandson Clever (Santos Choque), the director introduces a catalyst that precipitates the stubborn man’s battle for retaining agency. And while “Wiñaypacha” constructs its narrative with sheer realism that makes the viewer question whether it’d be better described as non-fiction, “Utama” is embellished with a few sublime touches of magical realism and Bárbara Alvarez’s gorgeously precise cinematography.

More:
https://www.indiewire.com/2022/01/utama-review-sundance-bolivian-film-1234692912/

[róisín_dubh]

1. Thanks for this, I'm going to share with my classes

My modern Latin America students have to historically contextualise a movie from Latin America for their final projects (I don't believe in final exams). I'll have to check it out.

[DemUnleashed]

2. Thx

Thanks for this info...I am going to check out both Utama and Winaypacha!