La Yuma Film Difficulty Ranking: 2
You’ve probably seen Boyz in the Hood and 8 Mile, and you might have seen Kidulthood and Menace II Society. They’re all ‘hood’ films. Each of them features young men growing up in ‘the hood’, trying to make it despite all the bad influences around them. La Yuma is another ‘hood’ film, but what makes it different is that instead of starring a young man dealing with machismo, gangsters, and bad parents, it stars a young woman dealing with the same things. Introducing our star (and aspiring boxer): La Yuma.
From: Nicaragua, North America
Watch: Trailer, Kanopy, JustWatch
Next: Amor y Frijoles, A Fantastic Woman, Do the Right Thing
The Breakdown
The first scene introduces us to the community that La Yuma lives in. A group of police men and women are playing baseball against a group of locals from the hood. The locals are winning, which prompts the armed policeman who’s pitching to play dirty. He throws the next ball straight at the local batters head, which ignites a battle of swearing and bravado. Whilst they’re arguing, a salesman who’s passing through the town in his car shouts to the local batter “once a punk, always a punk”. As a result, the locals who aren’t already arguing with the police start attacking the salesman. The scene immediately highlights the tension between the police and the community, as well as the tension between the community and the outsiders who look down on them. This is the hood that La Yuma grows up in.
Enter La Yuma. She’s around 20, loves boxing, and has just started a job at a local clothes store. However, being from the hood, she also has to deal with the same baseball players from the opening that started arguing and fighting with the police and a passing salesman. She wants to get away from her irresponsible mother, her lazy father in law, and the neighbors she hangs out with who are always engaged in petty crime.
So how can she escape? She’s presented with two options.
a) Boxing. It’s her first option. It’s what she loves doing despite the things her family and the locals say about women and boxing. Luckily for her, they don’t box or go to the gym, so it’s one way of escaping from them, albeit for a few hours.
b) A man from the outside. This is the old Prince Charming style escape: wait around for a wealthy man to rescue you from your awful family and undesirable neighborhood.
Whilst you might wish La Yuma down a certain path in the film, you’ll ultimately realize that she knows what’s best for her more than you. She’s brilliantly independent and always in control. So take the Hollywood tropes you’re used to, and throw them out the door, and let La Yuma live.
What to Watch Next
Firstly, if you’re looking for more independent Latin American women, check out A Fantastic Woman and Ixcanul.
Secondly, if you’re interested in seeing more films about young women living in the Latin American hood, check out Amor y Frijoles from Honduras and Maria full of Grace from Colombia.
Thirdly, for more ‘hood’ films, check out Boyz in the Hood, Do the Right Thing, 8 Mile, Kidulthood, or Menace II Society.
Lastly, if you want to follow another aspiring boxer trying to make a life for themselves in a developing country, check out Boxing Libreville.
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