A terrific story of finding hope in the wreckage

imdb-spam-10

"The Guatemalan Handshake" is a terrific story of loss and hope set against the backdrop of small-town Pennsylvania and the demolition derby. The idea of the demolition derby and its goal of being the last one still moving is played out in the various lives of the characters. Each of the characters suffers varying degrees of life damage and loss, from lost pets to missing children to forgotten combinations to broken limbs. But in the end, each of the characters has enough left to come out of his or her own personal demolition derby with enough motion to take the victory - pets (or likenesses thereof) return, locks come open, actual demolition derbies are won. The one main character who doesn't go through this is the young girl Turkeylegs, but she tells us at the beginning of the film that one day she's going to be the world's best demolition derby driver. She suffers too, but the narration implies that her race has just started and she's not yet at an age where she can find victory.

The film is visually engaging and features a great soundtrack and ambient score that lends itself well to the film's internal ghost story, a character who disappears near the beginning of the film seemingly with few friends. Despite this and despite the fact that few people bother to look for him, his life and actions continuously touch everyone and everything in the film as though he is in every frame.

I was not expecting the film to be uplifting (I saw a lot of press comparing it to "Napoleon Dynamite"), but it really was. It left me with a similar feeling to the movie "Millions" - though they are very different films, they both contain a strong sense of hope emerging from hardship.

Don't be put off if you hear this labeled a "quirky film" and don't think quirky films are for you. This is a film with a very relatable (if not obviously so) story that really speaks to the basic human conditions of loss and recovery. Very worthwhile.

score 8/10

imdb-spam-10 25 April 2006

Reprint: https://www.imdb.com/review/rw1351749/