The Canary Islands’ volcanic, untamed landscape becomes a silent arena for one girl’s fight to write her own fate. In José Ángel Alayón’s latest, La Lucha (The Struggle), the raw act of wrestling is reborn as a heart-wrenching allegory of grief, identity, and rebirth. The film catches that timeless rhythm between the hush of defeat and the roar of survival.
At its core burns Mariana—a young fire-eyed wrestler who dreams of following her late mother and broken father into the ring. One rule-breaking match shatters everything. Suddenly she must face the fallout in both the arena and her own heart. Her father, crushed by loss and age, has to choose: force discipline on her, or let her carve her own painful path.
Set inside the ancient Canarian tradition of Lucha Canaria, the film turns community, honor, and endurance into living metaphors—yet delivers them in a near-silent emotional ballet. Yazmina Estupiñan’s Mariana carries both teenage rebellion and fragile vulnerability in the same breath. Her body is less a battlefield than an archive of the past and a mirror of the fight for selfhood.
La Lucha rides a global wave that flips sports movies into intimate, introspective journeys. Like The Wrestler or Raging Bull, it mines physical combat for feelings words can’t touch. Mariana’s struggle stands for every woman demanding visibility and autonomy in a ring built for men.
This is poetic realism that handles pain with stillness, not spectacle. Every fall is an awakening, every grapple a portrait of body and soul in battle.
Film Snapshot
Director: José Ángel Alayón
Cast: Yazmina Estupiñan (Mariana), Aridany Pérez (Father)
Year: 2024
Themes: Lucha Canaria wrestling, loss, coming-of-age, feminist resistance
Style: Naturalist, lyrical, long takes, the mighty weight of silence
Awards: Best Cinematography at Málaga Film Festival, plus multiple nominations
