I love a good film. Or a good show. Or a good book. Really, I just want a convincing story to sink. I also believe that the consumption of stories of other cultures is a great way to know them and practice the language while you are there!
So, as I am obviously very excited by Mexico in general, I really like to look for films and Mexican programs. During my years as a writer here, I have reviewed several films: that Viva Mexico, TK, TK…I even made a list of certain Mexican television recommendations! According to my publisher, this is one of my most read articles of the past year.
Which gave me an idea. I look at it all anyway – could I write criticism of what I see?
Well, the children, we are about to discover it. I hope everyone reads it and comments on this subject and that my publisher says: “Gee is a success!” We will pay you now to watch Mexican television and films and give us your intelligent and original interpretations. “(Note from publishers: good luck with that.)
So let’s divide this into sections. We will approach what the film and the general arc of history is. We will talk about the characters. We will talk about the things that make them very, very Mexican and what history says about Mexican culture.
Today’s films are one of the favorites I recently seen, a 2015 film by director Anwar Safa and the writer Ana Sofia Clerici, Jaramiah. I discovered it by chance one day on Netflix and I liked it immediately.
What it is
CAUTION: Spoilers to come!
Jaramiah tells the story of an eight-year-old boy in Sonora who lives with his young parents, grandmother, teenage uncle and great-grandmother. He is early and adorable and who really does his best to spend childhood.
His family gathers on the sofa to watch soap operas, and he looks with them. The ladies of the church come to the house to give communion to the silent great-grandmother, and they trample them with questions. All the adults of his life say things that have little logical sense, and he questions them – not in a “I am smarter than you and I will sting holes in what you say to make you feel stupid” in a way – but in a way that clearly shows that he really wants to understand. The film could easily have turned “I am surrounded by eeediS!” territory, but this is not the case. Jeramías loves his family.
The film begins by displaying the IQs of the different family members at different times, usually after saying something stupid. Jeramías, however, is a real genius. As you can imagine, things are not going well for him in his public school. But when he became friends with two older men who play chess outside a bookstore, things change. One of the men will meet his parents and asks him if he could take Jeramías to be tested. His mother finally authorizes permission, and they soon discover that he has an IQ of 160.
It puts Jeramías in an urgent mission of self-discovery: what does he want to be when he grows? He wrote to the author of a book on children’s geniuses in Mexico and recounts his exploration. He prints photos of, in turn, Albert Einstein, Jim Morrison, Bobby Fischer, Marie Curie and Alan Turing, and explores the follow -up of their steps one by one.
Finally, the author of the book presents himself with his house. He asked parents to take him to MEXICO for a special event and to let him be included in a documentary on children’s geniuses. Jeramías is happy to go. “I am very excited to make friends with children like me,” he says.
Mexican archetypes
One thing I loved in the film is that it presents different types of characters from all of Mexico. It was not brilliant and glamorous, but it was not a spectacle of the misery of the poor either. Here are some notable characters:
Parents. Both parents are quite young. The mother aspires to “do something important” and works to finish her high school diploma even if the father thinks that it is a waste of time. She spends her days doing household work and cooking. The father is clearly the least intelligent of the two and works in a store. He is not a deep thinker and is happy not to question the way things are, taking everything that comes. Despite his lack of apparent information, he is “head of the house”. When he realizes that the genius of Jeramías could make money, he is proud of his son rather than embarrassed by his quirks.
The extended family. He and his parents live with his young grandmother, his son-his teenage uncle-and the great-grandmother. The grandmother is indisputable in her religiosity, often saying Jeramías, with her mother, that he should not question certain things. (“Have you noticed that nobody ever says something wrong about the dead?” Asks Jeramías. “Maybe he’s gay,” said the father.) The great-grandmother, and one of the characters with a higher IQ, is a silent presence for most of the film. She drags mainly in the house, drinking Tecate beer.
Older friends. Jeramías’ only friends are two men in their sixties. One is a Spaniard who has a bookstore, and the other, is a Mexican boss who plays chess with them. Jeramías meets them for the first time when he “hides” behind them, looking for protection against intimidators. The Spaniard is the one who takes him for the tests and serves as the only real peer in the film. They discuss books and philosophy, and he is one of the only people to whom Jeramías can ask questions and get honest and thoughtful answers.
Intimidators. Jeramías’ uncle, after his genius was discovered, takes him to spend time with his friends with the hidden motif to force him to do all their homework. Friends are the intimidators he had run before. They feel superior to be able to take advantage of him, but Jeramías quickly decides to abandon their business.
The crowd of Mexico City. The dominant character here is the author who visits Jeramías and brings him back to stay with him and meet the other children’s geniuses. All the other children come from rich families with super involved intellectual parents. This is Jeramías’ first exhibition in the intellectual world of the upper class of urban Mexico.
Lo Muy Mexicano (some cultural touchstones to seek)
- Family unity: Living with your extended family, especially when there are not many resources to do, is common. Jeramías shares a room with his teenage uncle. “Where we eat, two can eat” is a common Mexican dicton.
- The school system: Like most children in Mexico, Jeramías go to public school. His teacher is young and does not like to be questioned. His mother, and later Jeramías, crosses “PREPA Abierta”, or distance learning in order to obtain his graduate of secondary studies. There are only a few (private) special schools for children who are geniuses in Mexico, and they can only be found in large urban areas.
- The community: Jeramías lives in a medium -sized and little glamorous city where most people seem to know most of the others.
Sarah Devries is a writer and a translator based in Xalapa, Veracruz. It can be attached via its website, sarahedevries.substack.com.
