Mama Calle

Waking up and saying "Shit", spitting fire to make some money, and cherishing a jar of glue as if it were gold. This is not a film about a circus or a collection of curiosities but the depiction of the harsh reality of the little wanderers in the streets of Mexico City. The world of mama calle is inhabited by boys who have not even reached adolescence but seem to have a life behind them, judging from their experiences.
They are introduced in the middle of their occupations to trick the car drivers waiting in front of the traffic lights out of some change. Like greased lightning, the boys clean the windscreen or entertain the drivers with a dangerous stunt or a funny clown's act: "Pay if you are amused". The money is spent on jars of glue which they fraternally inhale through plastic bags. Glue is the sole escape from this dead-end street. The Mexican boys are presented as a group of touching street urchins. Their faces are still young and undamaged but their defiant attitude and darkened eyes show that they are afraid of nothing and nobody. They have seen it all. Most of them were once arrested and beaten up by the police. They have no expectations of help from anybody. Preferably, they call each other by their nicknames, such as 'the Panther' or 'Baldy', just like real criminals.

Mama calle follows two friends taking the train home. Leaving the city is filmed as a liberation. At last, the boys are in real country air and have left streetlife behind. However, they can not evade their real destination. They are homeward bound through a misty landscape to celebrate 1 November. This national Remembrance Day is surrounded by reverence. The villagers stand guard between numerous candles and the favourite food of the dear deceased.
Repeatedly, the film draws a parallel between the two boys and death. Every scene contains at least one reference to death that, sadly enough, seems to become their only companion.
Back in the streets, life has become even severer. 'Baldy' has accepted the task from a desperate mother to search for her disappeared son. In vain, he asks everybody if they have seen him. Inadvertently, the desire for a mother, a home of his own, surfaces. But death is nearer. The question arises how long these boys can still survive.
Mama calle: having an alley for a mother and death waiting at the end. In beautiful images, Arjanne Laan tells an intensely sad story.