The Ponce Family has run Circo Mexico since the 19th Century. This small ragged ensemble of animals and performers is constantly on the move barely stopping one or two days at the small remote villages it arrives at. It’s a tough and exhausting life. Everyone has to pitch in loading and unloading, erecting and disassembling especially the five children who work unceasingly and without complaint. For their father, Tino Ponce, the Ringmaster and effectual boss (although his father is still the one with the money), there is no other possible life, which he loves so fiercely. His wife Ivonne who married into the circus doesn’t share his passion, and resents the fact the whole role reversal of their lives, where the children give far more to their parents than they should ever have too.
Their seems little doubt with the rapidly dwindling audiences that future of traveling circuses like this look grim, but this wonderfully touching documentary focuses not on that, but on the changing relationships within the Ponce clan that risk their future together as a family.
Not one of the children can read or write, but inside the Ring, each one is a star. Their energy and their sheer determination to play their part for the family business is totally captivating, and by the end of this charming wee film, you are so wanting them to succeed.
★★★★★★★
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