Magic Words [Breaking a Spell]

Magic Words [Breaking a Spell]

2012. Mexico/Guatemala. Written and directed by Mercedes Moncada Rodríguez. In the vein of Chris Marker’s finest essay films, Moncada Rodríguez’s Magic Words is both sweeping and deeply personal, exploring 40 years of Nicaraguan history with a voice that is equally erudite, poetic, and indignant. Tracing the fraught Sandinista revolution throughout the 1980s and its aftermath, Moncada examines the impact of grand ideologies, politics, and lingering memories on communities and individuals, in many ways still left raw and reeling. To echo a quote from Marker’s Sans Soleil, Moncada seems to demand: “Who says that time heals all wounds?” In Spanish; English subtitles. 82 min.