Tino Ponce's family-operated traveling circus probably isn't the kind of circus a kid would dream of running away with. Tino's family began the Gran Circo Mexico one hundred years ago. Mexico's desperate economic situation has made it difficult for circuses like Tino's to survive.
Documentarian Aaron Schock captures the family dynamics at play between the Ponce family elders and their five circus-performing children. Although the children can't read or write, they are incredibly active and engaged in the act of bringing the circus alive. They're all talented and committed.
"Circo" is a micro/macro examination of a family whose already incredibly demanding way of life is being threatened. One of "Circo's" gifts is its insight to the way the family communicates. Tino's wife Ivonne is tired of the circus life. She wants something better for her children. She is also resentful of Tino's father who controls the profits with a tight grip.
It's fascinating to watch the ten-person group put up a circus that includes a lion, a tiger, a camel, a globe-of-death, and wire-walking stunts. The story takes on question about whether parents should serve their children, or the other way around. The Ponce family's cultural inheritance, and whether they can continue it, reflects on the global economic crisis at hand.
Not Rated. 75 mins.
