"Cuerdas" (Ropes or Strings) is a touching albeit sad little short animated film. At an undisclosed school, Maria befriends her new classmate who suffers from extreme palsy. The wheelchair bound boy is unable to speak and has limited facial expressions but that's unimportant to María, who is determined to rehabilitate her new friend. Time passes and they become great friends and in certain scenes you can see the boy is having a great time with Maria.
One day Maria gets to school only to find her friend's wheelchair empty and she immediately thinks her friend has fully recovered. When looking for him, Maria overhears two grown ups (probably the boy's mother or teacher) talk about the boy's sad fate: he died in his sleep. María is devastated by the news.
20 years later we see a grown woman entering a classroom, wearing a tied up piece of rope on her wrist, from the ropes María used to make her disabled friend move his hands and feet. María has now become a teacher.
"Cuerdas" has a bittersweet ending as we see María dedicate her life to help other kids. It's amazing how a story that could've been a feature length movie was condensed in a scarce 10 minute animated short. What's even sadder is that disabled kids like the one portrayed here exist by the hundreds but only a privileged few make it to adulthood.
20 years later we see a grown woman entering a classroom, wearing a tied up piece of rope on her wrist, from the ropes María used to make her disabled friend move his hands and feet. María has now become a teacher.
"Cuerdas" has a bittersweet ending as we see María dedicate her life to help other kids. It's amazing how a story that could've been a feature length movie was condensed in a scarce 10 minute animated short. What's even sadder is that disabled kids like the one portrayed here exist by the hundreds but only a privileged few make it to adulthood.