If you read the story outline and it left you hoping that this would be a huge dollop of emotive schmaltz then you will be sadly disappointed. This fly-on-the wall documentary style piece is about real people. You aren't going to fall immediately in love with the troubled ten year old Eric, because he doesn't want to be lovable. He pushes people away, which is how many real kids in his situation behave. You aren't going to fall in immediately alongside Gabriel, his father, either, because Gabriel is flawed. As are we all. And you won't immediately accept the actions of Isabel, Gabriel's employer, because they are almost incredibly extraordinary. But humans do almost incredibly extraordinary things. But the thing is this film will hold you. It tells the stories, in a very understated way, of these three flawed individuals who essentially mean well, and when you leave them you feel that they have let you see their lives in order to say 'this is me, this is us'.
Ten out of ten for an outstanding debut by Brayan Santamaria as the self-contained Eric.
Ten out of ten for an outstanding debut by Brayan Santamaria as the self-contained Eric.