María Magdalena Sanizo in The Condor Daughter | Credit: Bendita Film Sales
The Condor Daughter (La hija cóndor) takes us into a remote village in Bolivia where a young woman aspires to be a singer in the city. We see the interconnectedness of the people in this village and the land that they’ve lived on for generations.
This is one of the most beautiful films that I’ve seen so far this year. I would recommend seeing this film on the biggest screen possible. The visuals in The Condor Daughter are absolutely beautiful as we move through the Andes with Ana (María Magdalena Sanizo) and her daughter Clara (Marisol Vallejos Montaño). But then as the film moves into the city, we see different landscapes and people, which provide a stark contrast to the quiet mountain lifestyle we became accustomed to.
María Magdalena Sanizo is a real standout in the film as Ana. She is a source of wisdom for the community, a leader for those who have remained in this remote village. She’s the midwife who has helped deliver so many babies throughout the villages, and is also called upon to give emergency medical care in times of crisis. She is a rock for her community, and goes through her own crisis when her daughter seeks to leave. Ana has to fight so many conflicting emotions throughout the film, and Sanizo communicates all of those perfectly, often without saying many words.
One of the most striking parts of The Condor Daughter for me was the emphasis on the land, the place that Ana and Clara call home. There’s a connection that Ana especially has with her home. She knows the mountain ranges that she travels every day, the land that she works to grow her crops, the history of this place she calls home. There’s an understanding she has of this place that many of us have lost in our very mobile way of living. Watching Ana, I wondered what I have lost, being so disconnected from the land, the place that I call home.
Marisol Vallejos Montaño in The Condor Daughter | Credit: Bendita Film Sales
After the film ended, there was a Q&A with the director, Alvaro Olmos Torrico. It was wonderful to learn about how he and the entire team worked together to bring this special film to life. But what I think was most powerful about that discussion was how many people in the audience saw themselves in the story. Multiple people mentioned that they were first-generation Bolivian and had never seen their story, their people, depicted on the screen like this.
The Condor Daughter is currently playing in select theaters, and I would highly recommend seeing it on the biggest screen possible. This is an important and beautiful film that takes us into the remote mountains of the Andes to a people who aren’t often shown on the big screen. Even if you aren’t Bolivian, there is much to learn, experience, and enjoy in this film.