A Colombian Family

The human impact of the Colombian civil war is examined in microcosm in filmmaker Tanja Wol Sørensen's documentary feature debut. As a peace accord is struck between guerilla movement FARC and the government in 2016 - a deal that comes some 30 years after the fighting began -  it opens the door for reconnection between 29-year-old Yira, who has been exiled in Cuba and her mum Ruby.

Activism flows through Ruby's blood and has since Yira was a child - something that its clear has bred a considerable amount of conflict between the two, especially now Yira is a mother herself. Looking at photos from her childhood, Yira tells her mum none of them represent happiness to her - even a college snap brings back memories of the death of her father. Sørensen intercuts these fly-on-the-wall observations with conversations alone with mother and daughter, as they talk about their lives and aspirations. Ruby's campaigning streak lies undimmed, despite the precarious state of Colombia and the stream of death threats she receives, while Yira is desperate to persuade her mum to join her in plans to move to Canada.

Sørensen has obviously worked hard at building a rapport with the pair of them, who open up in her presence, even when she is a third presence to intimate conversations. This is now an internal rather than external conflict, as Ruby tries to reconcile her desire to continue to care for her community through campaign work and her urge to reconnect fully with her daughter. For Yira, the battle is a different one, as she tries to strike her own peace deal between the past and the present.

Yira and Ruby's relationship, although it has a specific political context, is the sort of messy mix experienced by people from all nations and gives Sørensen's film a lot of heart. The battle of wills between mother and daughter will be familiar to many a viewer, alongside a desire to try to reconcile problems from the past. The director's biography describes her as a "visual anthropologist" and her specific interest in people is perhaps why she is less successful at fleshing out the more general political situation in Columbia that provides the film's backdrop. Bits and pieces regarding the turbulent state of affairs and disenfranchisement from the land are slotted in, but it feels piecemeal and lacks clarity. As a family portrait there is much here to admire but the framing could be stronger.