“Sujo,” a Sundance World Drama category winner and an understated, quintessentially Mexican drama from co-directors Astrid Rondero and Fernanda Valadez, is one of two films included in this year’s lineup (the other is “Ponyboi”). A hapless macho dad spends years wondering what the nickname means. In both cases, the final reveal puts a poignant spin on the story of young Latinos struggling to escape the cycle of ignorance and unhealthy behavior that threatens to drag them down.
An optimistic piece in a traditionally brutal genre, 'The Water Tank' is a story that defies gravity. Like Sleeping Beauty, who manages to prick her finger even though all of the kingdom's spinning wheels were thought to have been destroyed, or the tragic figures of Greek mythology whose fates are decided by the gods, the title character is a man whose father, Josue (Juan Jesús Varela Hernández), is the one he worked for. This is a sicario who was killed by the cartel.
Rondero and Valadez (who collaborated on 2020 Sundance breakout “Identifying Feature”) approach the sensational subject of Mexico’s drug war with artistic sensibility, stripping it of the lawless glamor that often accompanies action-oriented south border thrillers. , like ‘Miss Bala’ or ‘Sicario’. If anything, it's closer to Richard Linklater's “Boyhood.” The filmmakers' investigation into the years of Sujo (played by two different actors). First, they introduce their father as a child who was still naive enough to imagine whatever life he wanted to have. Young Josue marvels at the sight of wild horses, beautiful animals that come to symbolize a kind of freedom he will never know. But Josue's son may one day achieve this freedom if he can avoid the traps that surround him.
In a disturbing early scene, Sujo (Kevin Uriel Aguilar Luna) takes a backseat while his father handles business, which in this particular case means making someone disappear. This oblivious boy trapped in the car doesn't understand what's going on, but the audience will. That makes this dark variation on “The Day He Takes His Son to Work” uniquely creepy. How can a child make his own way if his father, who is his strongest role model and loving presence at home, normalizes this kind of activity from such an impressionable age?
The filmmaker presents this memory from Sujo's perspective. Boring at first, it becomes unsettling and incomprehensible when Josue (known as “Ocho”, based on his position in the cartel hierarchy) does not return for several hours. Just then, an old man is passing by. What if that was the last time Sujo saw his father?
Rondero and Valadez refuse to depict violence explicitly. This may disappoint those expecting a more traditional thriller. But it lurks like some kind of bloodthirsty carnivore, licking its chin off-screen for most of the picture. Their script provides enough information to put the pieces together, not only about what Josue did to determine his fate (he killed the son of a local cartel boss), but also that Sujo is destined to end up “in the same barrel.” It implies a threat. This is where his father’s body was hidden.
When a local drug lord comes looking for Sujo, DP Ximena Amann is huddled under a table with the boy, who has no idea of the dangers of this particular game of hide and seek. Or maybe it is. The tank peed at that moment. Fortunately, Josue's wizard-like sister Nemesia (Yadira Pérez Esteban), who lives in a cabin on the outskirts of town with no floor or electricity, steps in to raise her orphaned nephew.
From this point on, the film cycles through the major influences in the life of Sujo (played by Juan Jesús Varela as a young man), some of whom are his cousins Jai (Alexis Jassiel Varela) and Jeremy (Jairo Hernández Ramirez). Join the cartel – lure him back into temptation. People like Susan (Sandra Lorenzano), a big-city teacher who sees a different kind of potential in the boy, encourage him to find a different path.
Narratively speaking, the story is most exciting when the stakes for the tank are greatest. But it's the quiet moments that stick with me in the days and weeks that follow. This is a glimpse into the life of a child plucked from a macho culture and raised in secret. Losing his father figure, Sujo is left with no choice but to define his own masculinity, and upon arriving at an outdoor boxing gym in Mexico City, he is teased by the tough guys.
Anyway, Jai tracks him down, and suddenly all the progress Sujo has made toward his new life (including enrolling in Susan's classes) could be erased by a bad decision. In the ‘water tank’ it is not enough to escape the lure of the cartel. A person in his position must consciously distance himself from that world with every choice he makes. When the explanation for Sioux's name is finally given, there is a tragic irony in its meaning, and it is revealed that Sioux will never know what we are learning. The father who baptized him is gone, but it's clear from the scene that he wanted his son to be free.