I Dream in Another Language **** (2017, Fernando Álvarez Rebeil, José Manuel Poncelis, Eligio Meléndez) – Classic Movie Review 12,618

The 2017 Mexican drama film I Dream in Another Language [Sueño en otro idioma] is a tragic love story, beautifully handled and moving. A linguist finds a language’s last two speakers fell out as young men 50 years ago and haven’t spoken to each other since. 

Director Ernesto Contreras’s 2017 Mexican drama film I Dream in Another Language [Sueño en otro idioma] is a polished rare gem. It is a bitter-sweet, tremendously sad love story, well tragic love story, extremely well handled and moving.

Fernando Álvarez Rebeil stars as Martín, a linguist who travels to the rainforest of Veracruz, Mexico, to record and understand Zikril, a dying (fictional) language. He discovers that Zikril’s last two speakers, Isauro (José Manuel Poncelis) and Evaristo (Eligio Meléndez), fell out as young men 50 years ago and haven’t spoken to each other since, apparently over their mutual love for Evaristo’s late wife.

Fernando Álvarez Rebeil stars as Martín.

Martín enlists the reluctant help of Evaristo’s granddaughter to try to end the feud, and the two build a strong relationship. It turns out the men’s forbidden love for each other is at the heart of the matter. This love, thwarted though it was, is the strongest of all three portrayed, stronger than Evaristo’s for his wife or Martín’s for Evaristo’s granddaughter, though they are significant too.

There are two main themes, the men’s love, which was considered taboo and sinful at the time, and the conservation of indigenous language and culture. They don’t seem like they could fit together in one film, but here they do perfectly. The all-important setting is the rainforest, to which the native people have a spiritual connection. In the jungle there is a special place, The Encanto, where the Zikril-speaking people go to rest. It all works beautifully in the context of the film.

I Dream in Another Language is a superb, haunting film of great beauty. The script, acting and direction are flawless. Rebeil exudes earnest good will and charm, a perfect embodiment of an optimistic character desperate to keep the language and the alive. It is one from the heart.

It is directed by Ernesto Contreras, former President of the Mexican Academy of Cinematographic Arts and Sciences, and written by his brother Carlos Contreras.

The cast are Fernando Álvarez Rebeil as Martín, José Manuel Poncelis as Isauro, Eligio Meléndez as Evaristo, Fátima Molina as Lluvia, and Norma Angélica as Flaviana.

© Derek Winnert 2023 – Classic Movie Review 12,618

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