BuladóTo that effect, the film opens with a beautiful poetic account of the wind, with shots of clouds moving across the island at high speed. The wind acquires an added mystical significance because it also becomes a means of communicating with the spirits of the ancestors, a way to return to the motherland.
The protagonist is eleven-year-old Kenza (Tiara Richards, discovered in a local school) who lives with her father Ouira a local policeman (Everon Jackson Hooi) and grandfather Weljo (Felix de Rooy) and stray dog, Tjenko, in a junkyard in the inland of Curaçao. Kenza has never known her mother, and when she has her first period, of course, she is totally lost lacking a maternal figure. She skips school quite often and she gets into fights, bullied at school for being the daughter of a police officer. The two men, who are her only support and guidance, are opposites in their outlook of life: Ouira is a resolute, rational man, while Weljo identifies with the original native culture and the spirituality of the island.
Janga incorporates the slave legend into his film, especially in the characterization of the grandfather who prefers to die rather than be sent away to a nursing home. The young girl becomes receptive to her mystical needs and she gradually opens herself up to her grandfather, who favors the spiritual world connected to the history of the island’s mystical and comforting traditions.
Eché Janga is able to tell a family drama full of silent emotion with all-telling looks and a patiently observing camera. With that two-fold perspective, the film sends a breath of fresh air through Dutch cinema. This film is the first in a language that is spoken only in Curaçao and Aruba. Buladó premiered at the Netherlands Film Festival last September and was awarded the Golden Calf as Best Film. It will be on Netflix in early 2021.