The Lina Rodriguez drama, which screened at last year’s Toronto International Film Festival, focuses on the drama of immigration, in this case illegal.
The beginning of “So Much Tenderness” is confusing. We see Aurora (Noëlle Schönwald) silently getting into the trunk of a car. In the passenger compartment, a couple with their little daughter set off without a word and without music. And when they reach the border crossing that separates the United States from Canada, we understand that Aurora is entering the country illegally. Six years later, her daughter Lucia (Natalia Aranguren) joins her.
When the filmmaker doesn’t go into the details of Aurora’s immigration procedures – we only see the bare minimum – she presents the life of her protagonist. This is how we learn that she is Colombian and a former environmental lawyer and that her husband was murdered. Her life in Toronto is now as comfortable as can be; She has friends, a lover and has found a job as a Spanish teacher.
All of these details allow us to grasp the magnitude of the uprooting immigrating to a foreign country in a society that functions in a foreign language—Aurora also explains the two different meanings of the verb to be in Spanish. Never falling into pathetic or inspirational cliche, Lina Rodriguez seeks to show the rift, the sense of inadequacy, even the malaise that persists.
With few words, neutral and often dark colors, without accompanying music. So much tenderness is deliberately minimalist. Raise awareness that immigration is a loss, a grief and also an exile.
Rating: 3.5 out of 5