Screening as part of the Ibero American Film Festival: A strutting little macho man at age 11, Chala has had reason to mature awfully fast: He’s the sole supporter of the Havana household he shares with his slovenly, volatile mother, Sonia, who appears to be unemployed. (It’s hinted that she may occasionally practice the world’s oldest profession.) In any case, she’s a frequently drunk and disorderly mess who confesses she hasn’t the faintest idea who his father is. As a result, Chala holds things together as best he can, raising pigeons for sale and keeping hounds
for illegal dogfighter Ignacio, who’s also Mom’s occasional squeeze and thus one of
presumably many paternity candidates. The sole supportive element in Chala’s life is
Carmela, a grade-school teacher soldiering on well past retirement age, is steadfast in her
commitment to hard-luck charges like him, in the hope that he’ll turn out better than
former students Sonia and Ignacio. Cuba’s Oscar submission in 2012