The Kings of the World, from writer/director Laura Mora Ortega and her co-writer Maria Camila Arias, centers on a group of street kids who have formed a brotherhood. When one of them, Rá (played by Carlos Andrés Castañeda), hears word back that the land restitution order he’s been waiting on has come through, the group sets out to help him claim it. Now, of course, to add some tension to their travels Culebro (played by Cristian David Duque), who is his blood relation but who there is bad blood with, finds out about the plan and demands to join the group.
Early in this journey, there are some great moments, especially when the group hitches a lift/tow from a truck. During this sequence, the five boys all express unbridled joy. This of course comes crashing down when they reach the rest stop. Rá attempts to make some purchases, and it is clear their presence is unwelcome. Both from the slow (no?) service he receives and the looks he gets from the rest of the patrons, who all seem to subscribe to the same uniform. One that consists of a white hat that also signals most of the people the boys bump against as representatives of a society that rejects them. While society rejects them (and brutalizes them) on their journey, they find help and acceptance from people on the fringes (prostitutes, people written off as crazy, an elderly couple living in the ruins of their home).
Right after this scene at the rest stop, there is probably the most gorgeous scene in the film. When the boys, possibly to blow off their anger, possibly just teenage boys being boys start breaking the road lights. After the first light is broken, the rest are done joyously. As they egg each other on, and snuff the lights out one by one, both in the scene and on the screen, until they’re in darkness. And then sparks of light from the machete on concrete/asphalt. Then cut to the blinding light of day. It was beautiful.
In addition to the road lights, there was another scene that expressed this spirit of boys egging each other on, which was when they played with the electrified fence, seeing who could hold on the longest. Sere (played by Davison Florez) even holds on with his nerve-damaged hand.
While the boys have a community with each other, they don’t move through the world the same way. For example, Winny (played by Cristian Campaña), the youngest, despite being roughed up and a fighter, the others have kept an innocence to him that makes him want to end their journey at the first sign of comfort. While Nano (played by Brahian Acevedo), the one Black kid, constantly has to face unveiled and spoken racism directed at him. And it eventually leads to him being brutally separated from the others.
Spoilers
Early on someone asks if they really think the government will give them the land. It was a question that set off my sensor that they would be met with bureaucracy when they eventually made it to the city they needed to present the papers, denying them the land. Though story-wise, it made for a better character moment for the group to just claim the land themselves. And their joy when they reach their destination, a sight that might’ve been disappointing to others but was still everything to them, hit stronger because of it.
And then to find out the real reason the land was once again taken back by the government, because it has gold on it. And someone is already excavating it.
The Kings of the World ends ambiguously with Rá holding his ground even as the agent of the person who took possession of his land threatens him with a gun. Off-screen the gun goes off. Who got shot is unknown. The film ends with all five boys reunited, living and dead, on a floating piece of land. An island they are truly kings of, away from the outside forces that break them.
The Kings of the World was an Official Selection – Out of Competition at the 44th Cairo International Film Festival.
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