A tough yet deeply moving Mexican genre film, based on a true story: a gripping journey into a world you won’t forget.

Fifteen-year-old Chama has already been labelled a delinquent when he is sent to La Gran Familia, a sprawling shelter for hundreds of disadvantaged children in Zamora, Michoacán. Behind its walls, the seemingly caring Mamá Rosa rules with an iron hand. For Chama, life there soon becomes another form of confinement. He finds an ally in Gato, a rebellious boy dreaming of escaping back to the streets, where freedom seems preferable to the rules of the shelter. But running away comes at a price.

Based on a true story, Matías Meyer’s masterfully directed and remarkably precise film takes us inside a world where children are caught between poverty, violence, addiction and abandonment. La Gran Familia really existed for more than six decades before being closed by authorities in 2014.

“I wanted to explore the contradictions of a place that was both a home and a prison.” Rather than judging, Meyer observes. Through Chama and Gato, he gives a voice to young people rarely heard in Mexican cinema, while revealing that even in the darkest circumstances, friendship, affection, and the longing for freedom can survive. A raw, intimate, and deeply moving film that stays with you.

Nikolaj Nikitin