Melissa Fisher’s short drama Buscando Alma seems deceptively straightforward. It takes skill to say a lot while barely parting lips, but that’s exactly what the director and co-writer achieves here. The 15-minute snapshot of a young person reconnecting with their mother touches upon the immigrant experience, the shame that comes with being transgender, generational differences, and the unbreakable parent-child bond.
Nurse Cristina (Carolina Gutierrez) stares longingly at a toddler after administering a vaccine. She receives a call: her mother, Alma (Neher Jacqueline Briceño), has been located. Cristina is understandably nervous: they’ve been apart for most of her life, separated during a tumultuous border crossing. The twist? Cristina used to be Alma’s son before undergoing a transition and settling in with a man (Marc Anthony Samuel).
“…snapshot of a young person reconnecting with their mother…”
The film pulls a neat trick of juxtaposing Cristina’s transition from one country to another with her transition from man to woman. Now that she’s about to reconnect with mom, Cristina attempts to hide the latter transition, trying on a bulky shirt to hide her feminine features in a poignant scene. “I have dreamt of this woman my entire life,” Cristina says. Perhaps it’s best she just shows her true self and faces the consequences.
The acting from the two leads is splendid. Insecure but determined, haunted but hopeful, Gutierrez delivers an epic performance in a few ephemeral moments. Briceño also impresses, particularly in a laundromat scene—she sees her lost son in every face and her heartaches, and so do ours. The seemingly natural lighting and handheld camerawork contribute to the verisimilitude.
In this case, the protagonist’s fears are unjustified, and she achieves redemption; sadly, parents often do not accept their child after such a transition, refusing to deal with their own fears and prejudices. Perhaps a film like this can contribute to a paradigm shift, wherein folks can see past the surface and recognize the human, the soul, beneath.
"…parents often do not accept their child after such a transition..."
