The Boy From Medellin
On: Amazon Prime
Director: Matthew Heineman
Cast: J Balvin
Rating: ****

Albeit speculative, a study of the grim origins of nursery rhymes is a subject worthy of attention. That Ringa Ringa Roses was a throwback to the plague is a fact fairly known, but few may be aware that even the seemingly innocuous ‘Eeny, meeny, miny, mo, catch a tiger by his toe’, apparently traces its roots to slave trade, with the original lyrics reading: ‘eeny, meeny, miny, mo catch a negro by his toe, if he hollers make him pay, twenty dollars every day’. 

Why are we bringing up the history of nursery rhymes when penning a review of the documentary on the rise of celebrated Colombian singer J Balvin, you ask? Because, this disconnect between peppy poetry and its rather dark origins is unusually usual in documentaries on revered musicians. There isn’t much to debate about when establishing that Balvin’s music is absolutely beautiful. And even if you are not familiar with the names of his songs, you have in most likelihood, grooved to his foot-tapping numbers, Mi gente and Ginza. But, moments after getting a viewer deeply invested in his story of grappling with depression, makers of The Boy from Medellin compel us to dance to Balvin’s music. Music aficionados are familiar with tunes that do justice to an artiste’s persona. But whether Balvin, whose battle with depression forms a major chunk of this film, employs happy notes as a means of escapism is a question that begs a thought.