Toda una vida (2004)

Directed by: Jacqueline van Vught | 75 minutes | documentary | Actors: Paco Lopez, Christiaan Lopez, Hanu Lopez, Jerry Lopez, Jim Lopez, Enriqueta Lopez

The dusty towns with stucco houses, crooked signboards and yellowed posters are reminiscent of a coffee advertisement. But there is no local color here; real life in Guatemala is not so friendly. Against the background of mass murder and wiped out Indians, the circus family is constantly forced to obtain permits to set up their circus. Guards at the mayor’s, rifles loosely under their arms, laugh teasingly: “let him sell his lions.”

With a sense of humor Van Vught gives an impression of the difficult existence of artists. In doing so, she is in line with a tradition of black humor in South America, where people make life bearable with harsh jokes. One of the brothers, for example, visits the pension fund for artists because his back problems hinder his trapeze work. His quest for financial support seems to be failing. The tour of the artist facilities ends at a supersonic coffin with a smoke machine. The fund manager proudly says he wants the very best for his members. Full of compassion, Van Vught shows that the balance of power within the circus family itself is even more oppressive than the political situation outside the tent and the wagons. Exactly the same mildness makes the viewer an outsider. The family members seem to be aware of an onlooker, causing them to hold their frustrations and anger in front of the camera and confrontations take place off-camera.

Just as artists in the Romantic era used images from nature to express human emotion, so Van Vught works towards an eruption with cinematic shots of nature. The image of a buzzard circling in the sky-blue sky makes them return as a symbol of impending doom. The volcanic mountains in the distance illustrate the heated tempers bubbling under the skin.

The a-chronological montage makes it clear that the problems within the family keep recurring. A disadvantage of cutting and pasting is that the need for storyline and explanation remains unsatisfied. As a result, you as a viewer quickly become confused. Who did what, when and why? The lack of clarity about the tent is downright unpleasant: are they building it or tearing it down? Is it morning or evening? The fragmentary representation of the actual circus show disappoints the circus enthusiast. He has to make do with the tailor. By showing only hints of the show, Van Vught makes it clear that the work in the arena is only a very small part of the circus artist’s life in an otherwise difficult existence.

Music plays an important role in ‘Toda una vida’. Along the way, the family members sing along to emotional protest songs. This suggests a bond despite the quarrels, but the collective singing along is so artificial that you wonder if it was staged. Also the ending could have been more subtle, the very last sentence is very abruptly cut off.

Van Vught more than makes up for the messy narration with impressive recordings of the tigers in particular, which form a metaphor for the circus. While the animal tamer caresss his animals and has to dodge the tusks at lightning speed, he says he loves his animals the most, ‘they are my brothers’. We know from images of the tiger act that he keeps the predators well under his whip with a smile, making you question his idea of ​​a brotherly relationship with a smile. At the same time, the animal trainer is also in a cage, just like his brothers. They are proud predators in captivity. The mutual rivalry is terrible, but no matter how much the family ties pinch, none of them can get away. Outside the circus they would starve.