‘Utama’ (2022) Review: Symbolises a Dying World
“Utama” means “our home” in Aymara and the one place that you will go back to thousand times over. Alejandro Loayza Grisi’s Utama is a poignant film with spectacular visuals that dazzle in every frame. A genuinely emotional movie that follows an elderly couple, who live in the Bolivian highlands and struggles to find water and other necessities. The area is reduced to dust and bones with nothing left for the people. The mountain glaciers are melting and their llamas are slowly dying of dehydration. Utama is an endearing tale about an elderly couple’s fight to survive and preserve their traditional customs and culture in a dying world.
In the Bolivian highlands, elderly couple Virginio (José Calcina) and Sisa (Luisa Quispe) farm llamas. The long-married elderly couple shares a mud house without electricity or running water. Both of them have their own responsibilities. Sisa fetches water every day but lately, she has to walk further and further away. She used to find water nearby but the rivers have dried up. Virginio handles the animals — that’s his responsibility. The neighbour's debate leaving the town and migrating to the city nearby but Virginio is too stubborn and refuses to leave his home, despite a nasty cough that worsens every time he goes out. Their grandson, Clever (Santos Choque) comes to visit them, under the guise of helping them out with their daily chores. He has a touch of modernity, with headphones and hoodies, compared to his grandparents who wear traditional clothes. Virginio suspects that he has an ulterior motive behind his visit; Clever wants his grandparents to move to the city since there’s access to running water and electricity. Virginio is upset at Clever’s request, and the movie reveals some conflict between him and Clever’s father and a nagging cough that makes things complicated.
Utama’s narrative structure is one of the best aspects of the film. It’s rendered at a graceful and delicate pace that allows the audience to process the innermost feelings and thoughts of the characters. What’s beautiful about a story like this is that Virginio and Sisa have no intention of leaving their home. The elderly couple intends to die in their home. Utama observes their marriage, their relationship to the land and their home, and their neighbours. Traditions and customs are important for them. The Bolivian highlands are their home and it is, in a sense, a spiritual place for them. No matter what happens to them, they won’t leave because they are each other’s world. Calcina and Quispe are both untrained actors, nevertheless, they give wonderful performances. Grisi spotted them outside of their homes while location scouting and the non-professional actors portray the elderly couple with grace, empathy and patience.
Even though their land is affected by the harsh environment and results of climate change, those words are never uttered in the movie. The homes in the village have been abandoned, and the neighbours have moved to the city due to their crops and animals dying, with no water and other necessities to help them sustain themselves. Utama shows the effects of climate change by observing the landscapes, such as the cracked earth below, a tiny stream that dried up and the melting ice caps on the mountains. There is no need to say those words because the movie expresses these concerns visually. It’s part of storytelling and Grisi attempts to resonate these metaphors and symbolisms with the viewers through striking visuals. Virginio and Sisa are made of the earth and his violent coughs symbolise the dying planet.
Utama is a stark reminder that climate change haunts the land and the earth. A poignant film that expresses that land and cultures are important and not easy to let go of. Tradition trumps modernity. It’s an alarming story — a pessimistic story — that doesn’t shy away from the harsh realities of the world. In some parts, the movie presents an optimistic opportunity for hope, but it’s a portrayal of change and the limitations of the human capacity of finding dignity in the face of a dying world. Utama spells out the warning signals quite too often. Its message is derived from storytelling and cinematography, which provides a symbol of hope during such bleak and depressing times.
