The Balance between Care and Self-Affirmation: Disability and the Family in Latin American Film

Recent films, Clara Sola (2021) directed by Nathalie Álvarez Mesén, from Costa Rica, and El tiempo nublado (Cloudy Times, 2014), by Arami Ullón, from Paraguay, address social and personal concerns associated with disability identities through their female protagonists. Álvarez Mesén’s first feature film takes the perspective of the neurodivergent middle-aged Clara, who suffers also from the curvature of her spine, to comment on the challenge of her incorporation into conventional society while still maintaining her own identity and approaches to experience. Ullón’s documentary, El tiempo nublado, traces the filmmaker’s challenges to find appropriate care for her aging mother who struggles with epilepsy and Parkinson’s. Cultural and generational perspectives mark divisions in both films as the protagonists attempt to affirm themselves as well as to receive the necessary care to thrive in these environments.