The director of Ixcanul Volcano, Jayro Bustamente, beautifully captures what life in the indigenous and rural Guatemalan region near Ixcanul Volcano is like. The plot follows Maria, a young indigenous woman, who is living a life of difficult manual labor as she prepares to be married off to Don Ignacio, the plantation owner who allows her family to live in the region. Although their lives are arduous, they live simply and humbly by surviving off their own lands. Ignacio initially appears to be an honest man with hopes of reaching the United States and improve his life. The story shifts direction when we learn of Maria’s interest in Pepe, a local farmboy, who changes Maria and her family’s life forever.

Jayro Bustamente uses camera techniques and colors to instill in the audience a sense of bleakness in the vast nature filled world in Guatemala. The scenes are shot for extended periods of time and we see just how nature plays an integral part in the lives of these indigenous Mayan peoples. One can see this especially in the family’s reliance on the land’s coffee and corn harvest. Time is oriented around specific harvests and moons, especially in relation to Maria’s pregnancy and it is the main antagonist of the film in a few regards. The scenes that are the most frequently shown are that of the landscape and the labor the indigenous population experience. The sounds that are emphasized are that of nature and it is refreshing to have a film that doesn’t utilize soundtracks to move the plot. As an audience, silence is a very powerful tool that Bustamente uses throughout the film to move the plot and focus on the actions of the characters in the film.

One of the main weaknesses of the film is that it does not seem to show just how Don Ignacio has come into the position he is in. This may be due to poor character development and to add more emphasis on Maria’s story and development, but I felt that it was missing. I feel that by having more interactions with other characters, I may have been able to get  sense of what other issues trouble other indigenous families. The end is however wonderfully executed and let’s us believe that the trials and challenges that Maria faces are more widespread and unfortunately commonplace within Guatemala and perhaps for other indigenous regions of Latin America.

Ixcanul relates to the first unit in a rather moving and troubling way. Indigeneity and identity are the main foci of the film as it is in the PERLA Survey. I believe that the PERLA Survey was intended to provide Mexico and other countries with information pertaining to self-identification and demographic information. There were a number of challenges with the survey that were also presented in the film. The woman who came along with Don Ignacio was tasked with collecting census data and it was clear that she was not well trained to engage with Maria or her family.

The hope is that those involved with the PERLA Survey were sensitive to these indigenous populations and trained their staff to be able to engage openly and comfortably with all groups of people within a region. The way in which it is presented in Ixcanul would leave us to believe that it was less than ideal and not run effectively. It demonstrates that cultural, educational, and linguistic barriers are just a few of the challenges that one may face and need to be overcome when conducting surveys.