You are here:

Alsino and the Condor

Name: Alsino and the Condor
Director: Miguel Littín
Released: 1982
Duration: 89 min

Representation Score

4.6/10

Fair

1982

Director

Miguel Littín

Runtime

89 minutes

Average Rating

No ratings yet

New Showbiz Analysis

Miguel Littín’s film is a sophisticated critique of colonial and post-colonial power dynamics. By telling the story through a child’s perspective, the film effectively challenges Western dominance and the impact of external military intervention. The film excels in its exploration of systemic inequality and multi-layered racial identities. It uses a personal coming-of-age story to highlight the lived experiences of underrepresented rural communities. However, the film adheres to traditional social norms. It lacks representation of LGBTQ+ identities and maintains a patriarchal structure where female characters are largely peripheral to the main storyline.

Watch this, not that →

Category Breakdown

Does Alsino and the Condor have LGBTQ+ representation?

Minimal

The film focuses on a protagonist's growth within a traditional rural setting. There are no characters with non-binary gender identities or same-sex relationships.

How does Alsino and the Condor portray gender?

Fair

The story follows a traditional patriarchal structure. Female characters play minor roles, such as when the protagonist climbs trees with a girl named Alsino.

How racially and ethnically diverse is Alsino and the Condor?

Excellent

The film highlights a protagonist of mixed heritage, challenging Eurocentric views and exploring the complexities of mestizo identity and racial hierarchies.

How does Alsino and the Condor represent religion and culture?

Excellent

The narrative critiques Western intervention and centralized power, focusing on the struggles of rural communities against external geopolitical interests.

Does Alsino and the Condor include disability representation?

Minimal

There are no significant portrayals of physical or cognitive disabilities that shape the narrative or serve as central character arcs.

Present on Screen

Highlights the complexities of mestizo identity and racial hierarchies.
Offers a strong critique of Western intervention and geopolitical interests.
Features a protagonist of color navigating systemic inequality.

Limited or Absent

No representation of non-traditional gender identities.
Female characters are limited to domestic or minor roles.
Maintains a traditional patriarchal social structure.

Official Synopsis

Alsino, a boy of 10 or 12, lives with his grandmother in a remote area of Nicaragua. He's engulfed in the war between rebels and government troops when a US advisor orders the army to open a staging area by the boy's hamlet. Alsino tries to be a child, climbing trees with a girl, looking through his grandfather's trunk of mementos and trying to fly; he goes to town to sell a saddle, has his first drink and is taken to a brothel. But the war surrounds him. The US advisor takes Alsino on a chopper flight, but he's unimpressed. The soldiers' cruelties awake rebel sympathies in Alsino, and after an army assault backfires, the lad is fully baptized into the conflict.

How are these scores produced? →