You’re going blind. Do you have a laundry list of things you have to see before you lose eyesight forever? I think mine would include one last collage of smiles on the faces of people I love. Hmmm, maybe that’s wrong. Maybe you want to go the other way so that you don’t miss your eyesight, like a white supremacist rally or a Tyler Perry film fest. Yep, enough of that stuff and I might not want to see again. But –far as I know- it’s not me or you going blind today, it’s Santi (Emiliano Aramayo), an adorable pre-teen Mexican child with juvenile glaucoma. And Santi has a Santa-sized wish list before blindness happens. Hence the question.
The parents of Santi are divorced. I wouldn’t say Santi is the classic indulged child of divorce, but one of his conditions is mom and dad have to live together before his operation. Neither Rodrigo (Mauricio Ochmann) nor Alejandra (Fernanda Castillo) is terribly wild about that arrangement, but that’s nothing compared to Alejandra’s new boyfriend, Enrique (Erik Hayser), who shelled out for an entire circus to play Santi’s birthday. Don’t sweat it; Enrique owns his own plane; he can crap a Cirque du Soleil without feil.
Would you indulge you going-blind child? Of course you would. How? Wrestling match? Horror movie? Helicopter ride? Acapulco? What’s next? Ya Veremos (“We’ll see.” Get it?) This is paint-by-numbers stuff. We know essentially what’s going to happen from the time the list is announced, but that doesn’t necessarily dictate an empty film. One very moving scene occurs in the middle of indulgence week; Santi asks to be taken to a place where he can befriend blind children. God help you if you can stoneface that moment. In an otherwise lackluster film, this is a scene I’ll remember for ages.
Ya Veremos giveth and Ya Veremos taketh away – Contrary to the sweet is the one very disturbing moment in the film (for me at least) when dad pimps out his would-be sexual partner (Estefanía Ahumada) to cross off a nude woman wish list item without her knowledge or consent. The woman in question is presented as unstable and hostile, which is suppose to make us feel better about what’s going to happen … Yet no matter how awful the woman presented, I cannot condone any part of this scene; I could easily give Ya Veremos a thumbs down for this alone.
I should point out here that films like this are important because Americans tend to view Mexico through the filters of films like Traffic and Sicario. If all you ever see of Mexico comes out of the Sicario franchise, well sure, how can you be blamed for assuming Mexicans are rapists and murderers? I mean, aside from the mountain of empirical evidence to the contrary. Films like Ya Veremos tread the line between meaningless drivel and important modern statement (well, more drivel than statement). Yet even a mediocre comedrama like this one can underscore the point that Mexicans are no different from Americans. Do you see? Mexican people are just as easily manipulated by sick children, derive great pleasure from masked men clubbing others, and happily indulge sexploitation for the sake of humor. Ok, maybe Ya Veremos is not the best film to illustrate the point after all.
Brave parents twist into contortion
When their child reports a distortion
What’ll it be, dad?
Appease the young lad
And tread between sympathy and extortion
Rated PG-13, 85 Minutes
Director: Pitipol Ybarra
Writer: Alberto Bremer
Genre: The comedy of tragedy
Type of being most likely to enjoy this film: Suckers for children
Type of being least likely to enjoy this film: Tough love proponents
