Trémulo (2015)
Set in Mexico City, this story could have taken place pretty much anywhere in Latin America (or the US 40+ years ago). A “small town”, hard-working kid away from any family to speak of gets his validation through the work he does, and he sees his tips as a testament to that. A stranger, claiming to be a soldier comes in and has an immediate attraction to the kid and decides to come back later to spend time with him. The time they spend together will make most viewers (myself included) uneasy, as it looks like this may turn out to be a very mercenarial situation, as the soldier could easily take advantage of the kid…which is what it appears he intends to do. Not only until the end do we see the soldier’s true intentions, and the full scope of the kid’s innocence. The film is masterful in that it does not come off as an apology for pedophilia (yes…unfortunately, these films do exist) but rather a display of what the smallest act of kindness and affection, and the effects it can have. Both the soldier and the kid almost appear to be each other; the soldier seeing himself in the kid at his age and the kid seeing the soldier as someone he would like to be. I’m just extremely grateful the writer did not see the need to cross any boundaries/lines for shock-value to make this point: which is why I think this is an incredibly touching short-film worth watching.
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