The Echo (El Eco) (12A)

To the residents of the Mexican village El Eco, the natural cycles of life and death are inseparable, not just in the sense that animals are born and must be tended to. The same is true of crops and people.

This gentle and beautifully-crafted documentary has the feel of improvised drama but what we’re seeing is more, as one critic put it, ‘an intimate, immersive portrait of a way of life’ thanks to its focus on the children’s lives, the daily hardships, seasonal rituals and unquestioned mores (an almost inevitable patriarchy is accepted as the norm). But there is also love and tenderness aplenty.

As Sweet Charity has it: ‘The rhythm of life is a powerful beat.’