Titel: El reino de dios | The Realm of God | Das Reich Gottes
The boy Neimar (Diego Armando Lara Lagunes) lives in a very rural area of Mexico. His great passion is racehorses and he uses every free minute to get more knowledge or to attend races, although the adults tend to make fun of him because of his young age and lack of experience. Whenever he roams around, always with a stick as a riding whip, he single-handedly plays the horse races out loud and comments on them. His home seems like a completely different dimension. His mother strictly follows the Christian faith. In her open house she welcomes people who seek her blessing, advice or forgiveness. Also living there is his grandmother, who, like a little rebel, fights against the somewhat strong prevailing discipline and does not mince words. She criticizes the daily bland bean soup where there is not even rice, pushes her plate away from her like a toddler and emphasizes that she will not eat it. Neimar thinks very highly of his grandmother, visibly taking pleasure in the old woman’s actions.
His best friend is the girl Demi, with whom he also attends church. The children are about to receive their First Communion and Demi can hardly wait. While the priest does his best in class, it’s only Neimar who keeps rolling his eyes discreetly or shaking his head. It is more than obvious that he is not completely behind the Christian faith. While the day of communion has finally come and is carried out, however, something tragic happens in parallel in another place, which will leave its mark on Neiman’s life and may make his faith in God recede further into the distance.
Conclusion:
El reino de dios is a very quiet film with a documentary feel. It is quite lengthy in places and you have to be patient until a scene changes again. Some scenes are also repetitive, such as roaming around and reenacting the horse races. The only change is in the scenes with the grandmother, who can bring a smile to the viewer’s face with her slightly querulous manner, which probably also contributes to Neimar’s questioning of things. Due to the lack of knowledge about the local culture, the film leaves more questions than answers, and unfortunately no one from the team was present to answer the viewers’ questions.
Actors:
Diego Armando Lara Lagunes (Neimar)
Lizbeth Gabriela Nolasco Hernández(Mother)
Margarita Guevara Gonzales (Grandmother)
Director:
Claudia Sainte-Luce
About the movie:
https://www.berlinale.de/en/programme/programme/detail.html?film_id=202203758
