All language subtitles for Ileanas.Smile.2023.1080p.WEBRip.x264.AAC-[YTS.GG - YTS.BZ].en

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♪ ♪

BRAD CORRIGAN: How do you
start a story that...

intersected yours...

and just changed
everything...

in your life?

I saw people
living in this dump.

(camera clicking)

(flies buzzing)

(dogs barking)

BRAD: In the heart of Nicaragua
is La Chureca.

One of the largest open-air
landfills in Central America.

After an earthquake devastated
Managua in 1972, it grew.

REPORTER: 90% of the city
has been utterly destroyed.

Even the few tall buildings...

(lively chatter)

BRAD: It's estimated
that as many as 3,000 people

made their living
sifting through

the burning piles of trash.

(speaking Spanish)

BRAD:
Meeting Ileana...

she had such an amazing
impact on my life.

Earth-shaking.

("Ketchwa" by Gertrudis
and Brad Corrigan playing)

♪ ♪

♪ ♪

(song ends)

(fire crackling)

(dogs barking in distance)

(conversing in Spanish)

(flies buzzing)

BRAD: Located in the capital
city of Managua, Nicaragua

is La Chureca.

Over three square kilometers
in size.

♪ ♪

♪ Whoa, we'll be tracing
those lines ♪

♪ Tracing lines that no one ♪

♪ Tracing lines. ♪

(audience cheering)

BRAD:
My name is Brad.

And I've been a musician
all my life.

♪ Take a shower
and shine your shoes... ♪

I've been in a band
for more than 20 years.

But my journey in music
started a long time ago.

♪ And now I am yearning ♪

♪ To hear that voice ♪

♪ And I am trying... ♪

I grew up in a family
that loved music.

My mom played piano.

My grandpa was a singer.

And I wanted to be
just like him.

I got my first guitar
when I was 14,

just before our family
went bankrupt.

We moved ten times
in three years,

and the only thing
that remained consistent for me

was music and my guitar.

I joined a band in high school,

the Woodriver Bandits.

Thanks for coming out tonight.
Wow.

And we actually got
really serious about it,

recording an album
on cassette tape

and playing as many shows
as we could.

♪ Oh, Dispatch ♪

♪ Which patch? ♪

♪ I said Dispatch ♪

Then in college, I met new
friends who loved making music.

So we started a band, Dispatch.

A new song coming out
on our, uh,

new album in September.

(cheering)

BRAD:
Our music went viral

before we even knew
what that meant.

♪ ♪

All of a sudden,
we had opportunities to play

where people were wrapped
around the street corner

waiting to come into the club.

I mean, it was so surreal.

Getting our first taste of
success and some aspect of fame

brought a lot of pressure
to perform.

All three of us were digging
for our own identities

and sharing a microphone.

I was just trying to figure out
who I was.

So I'm gonna vote 25.

There's no difference,
you guys.

BRAD: The band decided
to go on hiatus.

We were pretty burned out,

and ultimately, we just chose
to close the door.

I felt pretty lost.

All I had ever known
was being in this band.

(jet engine whooshing)

♪ ♪

When a friend invited me
and a team of volunteers

to go to Managua,
I didn't hesitate.

I would say yes to almost
anything at that point.

All I had signed up for

was playing soccer with kids
in an orphanage

and getting a chance to surf.

BRAD: My buddy Jonathan
came with me on this first trip

and brought his video camera
to film the concert

and support the orphanage.

And we hired Bismark to be

our taxi driver for the week.

(quiet chatter in Spanish)

BRAD:
Oh, my goodness.

(machinery whirring)

BRAD: I had never seen
anything like this

in my sheltered existence.

There were black piles
of smoking rot everywhere.

The smell of it all is just...

-indescribable.
-(flies buzzing)

It seeped into the car.

It was in your clothes.

You're breathing it in.

And the sound of all
this grinding machinery

was ringing in your ears.

(camera clicking)

And I felt so much safer
hiding behind my camera.

(camera clicking)

I mean, man...

When you're in the midst
of something like that,

the contrast coming from
where we live in the States,

um...

to a place that is invisible

to most of the world
and invisible even

to people living in Managua.

-You're on.
-Uh, we're here in La Chureca.

It's a trash dump barrio.

So, we got to get out of here.

I just felt really out of place
and unsure why I was there.

And it was getting dark.

So I was ready to leave,

and then all of a sudden,
this girl rides up on her bike,

and she's laughing.

(laughter)

She told us she was
from a small town nearby

but that she lived in the dump.

She invited us to come and see
her home and meet her family.

(Ileana speaking Spanish)

BRAD:
So, this is our friend Ileana

and Juan, her little brother.

(speaking Spanish)

This family, you can feel it.

They're all laughter.

-(laughter)
-Sí, sí.

(speaking Spanish)

(laughter)

BRAD:
After I got back to Colorado,

I couldn't stop thinking about
all that I'd seen.

I found myself poring over
the pictures

that I had taken there.

All I wanted to do
was find a way to help.

So I kept going back and forth
to Nicaragua

whenever I had a chance.

And I began
sharing my experience

with anyone who would listen.

Okay, now, this is the new...
this is the...

There is a little girl...

I don't know what to do
other than just jump in.

There is a little girl
that has changed my life...

And from these conversations,
I found a little momentum.

That's the picture that kept
bringing me back every time.

(woman singing in Spanish)

BRAD: After a year
of trips to Nicaragua,

I started going
almost every month.

I roped in some family
and friends

to bring donated supplies
to La Chureca.

First stop, Ileana's house.

BRAD:
It started out simple:

distributing food, clothes,
toothbrushes, soap

to whoever needed it.

At the time, I really thought
that would help.

BRAD:
Pretty soon, we realized

we were in over our heads.

We never had enough
or knew enough

to really make
a lasting difference.

I'm thinking it's really hard
to be with

such beautiful little kiddos...

and see that they play and
hang out all day in the trash.

(muffled murmuring)

BRAD: So we kept filming
and taking pictures,

hoping we could bring
some light to their story

and find someone
better-equipped

to take this on.

(singing in Spanish)

(camera clicks)

BRAD:
I began to feel more at home

in La Chureca.

(singing in Spanish)

-My Spanish got better.
-Sí. Y tú también.

I was able to really listen to
people's fascinating stories...

-Hola.
-...and learn from them.

(singing in Spanish)

-(laughter)
-Hola, hola.

Hola, hola.

BRAD: Some of my friends
have asked me, like,

really what the big picture
is, like...

Hola.

What do I really think
I'm gonna accomplish here?

What's the big plan?

-(laughter)
-Gosh.

(speaking Spanish)

I think love isn't
that strategic, you know?

That if you saw people
living like this,

you would be willing
to walk with them.

And then you would want
to start

using your imagination to:

How can I bring
more hope and joy

and light into
a place like this?

The entire thing
was inspired by that spark.

That relational spark.

Getting to know someone and...

Hola, hermano.

(speaking Spanish)

And to know that in the...
in the...

in the precious little moments
like these...

(speaking Spanish)

This is where, like,
the-the eternal stuff happens.

(speaking Spanish)

These are really,
really amazing people.

There's so much ingenuity.

Man, they'll find stuff
in there

that we just would throw out
every day.

And they'll find
the value in it

and incorporate it into
where they live and...

Old car battery
attached to an old TV.

And they've got a TV
and a light bulb inside

to light up where they live.

(speaking Spanish)

(coughing)

(speaking Spanish)

BRAD: After a few years
of visiting La Chureca...

the people and the place

became like a second home
to me.

(speaking Spanish)

In 2008, an organization
of volunteer college students

reached out to me.

They asked me if I would
lead a group of them

who wanted to learn
more about La Chureca.

All right, so as far as
just kind of a theme

that I would love
for you guys to embrace

as you're going
through the day,

everybody that is in there,

they live there,
that's their community.

They're inviting us in.

When you walk by someone,
don't just

do a quick, awkward handshake.

Stop long enough to look
into their eyes,

give them a hug,
give them a high five.

Ask them if they want a kite.

Ask them if they want to kick
the soccer ball.

Do not think that
we are lifting them

from down here up to here.

BRAD: After that initial group
of volunteers,

I had the chance to bring
12 different teams down.

And we donated truckloads
of supplies

to the families
that live there.

The more I walked through
the trash dump,

the more I felt like
I was getting to the...

the deeper truth of it all.

(shouting playfully)

BRAD: The life I'd left behind,
touring as a musician,

chasing some aspect
of money or fame,

I mean, it just no longer
made sense to me.

(singing in Spanish)

I saw Ileana, her friends
and her family...

and their joy and courage
kept me coming back.

What's up, fellas?

What's good? How are you?

No, I think we have like
five school buses coming.

Try and talk and spread
the word as you go along.

You can be inviting people
to the concert

that's at 3:00.

BRAD: We just brought
the groove to the stage.

♪ ♪

♪ Amen, hallelujah ♪

♪ Love comes, living here... ♪

BRAD: We started an event
called Dia De Luz,

which means "Day of Light."

We built a stage
in the heart of the trash dump.

We invited musicians
to come and sing.

We invited our friends to come
who could paint murals.

We invited athletes
to come and play sports.

It became a joyful
annual tradition.

♪ Na-na-na, sing... ♪

♪ Amen, hallelujah ♪

♪ Love comes, living here ♪

(singing in Spanish)

♪ Amen, hallelujah ♪

♪ Love comes, living here ♪

(singing in Spanish)

♪ ♪

♪ Yeah! ♪

(singing in Spanish)

-(song ends)
-(cheering and applause)

MAN:
Is there a truck coming?

BRAD: Oh, man.
Gosh, dude, it's so bad.

You can see the entire place
is just one huge smoke pit.

And that's where these
beautiful people live, man.

That's where they live.

It's not like that normally.

I don't know why it's so bad
these days.

I was hoping that the wind
would really clear stuff out.

MAN:
Get closer and say that.

I was hoping that the wind

would just clear things out
a little bit.

Instead, it's just...

it's like a bellows
for the fire.

Well, the dump is different
than it's ever been right now.

The bottom layer of it...
maybe, I don't know,

five or ten feet underneath

the trash that you see...
is burning.

It's, like,
spontaneously combusting

because of all the natural gas
trapped down there,

and it's been six or seven
weeks now, consecutively,

that it's just
this horrible cloud.

With all the families
that are living right here,

we're just trying to offer them
a little bit of money

so that they would take them
further into the dump.

And they just dumped them here.

Man, I don't understand.

This smoke is the kind that,
like, in a half an hour,

no... no way can you live.

And it's right here.

I have no idea why they just
dropped this stuff off.

Ay, ay, ay.

♪ ♪

BRAD: And then it felt
like a miracle happened.

MAN: Oh, my...
Brad, look at the sky, man.

BRAD:
Let's pray for rain.

Please, Father, bring the rain.

That little rainstorm...
I don't know where that's from.

♪ ♪

That just bought us enough time
to get the tires picked up.

We have a good friend
that has a truck

that's right there,
and he doesn't have work.

(lively chatter)

(grunting)

(man whooping)

(man shouting excitedly)

(chatter in Spanish)

(shouts in Spanish)

BRAD:
Hola.

BRAD: With every trip
to the trash dump,

we watched Ileana
and her sisters grow up.

And we learned
a little more each time

about the reality
that they were facing.

(speaking Spanish)

One of the hardest things
for us to see is just

how many kids in the community
were hooked on huffing glue.

That's what we're
up against here.

Kids buying that much glue.

Checking out for three days.

♪ ♪

(Brad sighs heavily)

Hmm.

Hmm.

BRAD: North of Managua
by a couple of hours

is a beautiful mountain town
called Jinotega.

My Nicaraguan friend Arturo
had been sharing the story

of the kids in the trash dump
with his friends there.

And so they offered
to start a safe house

to help care for them.

BRAD:
Little tour. Hola, Casey.

Hola, Brad.

BRAD: This is where
we will grow our plants.

Here's a bathroom.

Not bad. Hola, Alba.

Hola.

(both shout)

(laughter)

BRAD: There were
doctors and teachers.

(children speaking Spanish)

(speaking Spanish)

BRAD:
Bravo. Bravo.

And it was clean,
and there was food.

And it was also a place to go
in case of emergencies.

Hola.

BRAD:
I mean, it's pretty amazing

just to see how beautiful
the mountains are

and the palm trees and...

colors and clouds and...

they're all smiles
and laughter.

I mean, it's pretty amazing.

To think where they came from,

you know, just meeting them
in the dump.

With all the smoke and fire
and see them here.

They're kids again.

I mean, it's like stepping
into paradise.

Yow!

Hola, Jinotega.

BRAD: I was showing the girls
some pictures from

our first few trips,
and when we came to this one...

a picture that had gripped
my heart the most,

the same photo
that inspired me so much

and that I'd shared
with countless friends...

(speaking Spanish)

I never knew who
the girl was in the picture.

BRAD:
She just goes, "Oh, that's me.

Oh, I look so crazy, my hair.
I was all..."

And I'm just like,
"It really is her."

I just couldn't believe
it was Mercedes all along.

-(camera clicks)
-Ileana's sister.

That she was the very girl
in the rain from that photo.

Just unbelievable.

(indistinct chatter)

BRAD:
The time in Jinotega

seemed to help heal
and motivate

Ileana and her sisters.

Ah, gringos.

BRAD:
But every time we returned,

the same pitfalls were there.

(speaking Spanish)

BRAD: It became apparent
that both Ileana and Mercedes

were huffing glue.

And probably trying other drugs
easily found in the dump,

like crack.

♪ ♪

BRAD:
Well, we found Ileana,

just looking like a mess,

and, I mean, you can see it
on her face.

She just...
her brow is furrowed,

and she's angry
and confused and...

Of course her spirit
has changed.

She doesn't like me much

and doesn't want
to go visit her mom.

♪ ♪

So we'll just go give her
a couple of gifts

and not ask her for anything.

Just so she knows
that we love her.

We tried everything
from rehab clinics

to social workers

to our safe house
in Jinotega...

hoping that Ileana
would stay somewhere

long enough to get well.

(speaking Spanish)

Wherever she was,
she just wouldn't stay.

♪ ♪

(speaking Spanish)

BRAD:
Hearing stories from neighbors,

hearing stories
from social workers,

it-it took a while
to believe it was true.

♪ ♪

BRAD:
And then without warning,

Mercedes got really sick.

So we rushed Mercedes
and her sisters to the hospital

to get an examination
and blood tests.

Mercedes, Ileana and Anyurit
were all HIV positive.

♪ ♪

BRAD: Not having access
to medical care

and not even really
understanding what AIDS was,

all three of them
had fully developed AIDS

before they'd even been tested.

Mercedes was immediately
admitted to the hospital,

and we were concerned
about how sick she was.

BRAD:
A few days later,

we received a phone call.

BRAD: Mercedes had just died
in the hospital alone.

Mercedes was 17, 18.

It rippled through
our entire community.

♪ ♪

BRAD:
A year later,

Ileana's mom called and said

Ileana was sick
and needed help.

Bismark and I went
as quickly as we could,

and we went straight
to a hospital.

A doctor got down on her level

and said, "You are sick,

but you can still beat this.
We can beat this."

Doctors told us
that she'd be fine.

♪ ♪

And that's the last time

we saw her.

♪ ♪

Ileana passed away.

Her sister Mercedes
passed away.

(sniffles)

(crying)

BRAD:
And it was like...

walking through
a plate glass window.

Ileana had just turned 18.

BRAD:
I was so heartbroken,

and part of me was so angry

that these girls faced
the darknesses that they did.

Despite all our efforts...

the safe house,
the medical care,

our friendship and the support
we offered them...

we lost Ileana and Mercedes.

It made me question
the entire journey.

From day one.

♪ ♪

♪ ♪

(vocalizing)

(vocalizing)

BRAD: After Ileana died,
I spent many years

grappling with the pain
of losing her and Mercedes.

More than anything,
I wanted to know

if there was something
we could have done.

Anything we could've done

so Ileana and Mercedes
would still be alive.

I reread all of my journals.

I grieved
with family and friends

who were
just as shocked by the loss.

I looked at thousands of photos

and watched
all the video footage

we had collected
from over the years.

I questioned everything
we had done,

including my motives for being
in Nicaragua to begin with.

Was it more about me than them?

Was I so naive
to be down there?

All the time,
energy and trying.

Did any of it matter?

Was it my place
to take interest

in La Chureca to begin with,

as a privileged
and sheltered foreigner

from a few thousand miles
to the north?

I even wondered if I was a part
of the system of oppression

that had held Ileana
and Mercedes captive,

cutting their lives short.

It took a while
before I was comfortable

telling Ileana
and Mercedes' stories.

But then I realized
perhaps the greatest thing

that can come from loss
is the questioning,

the learning

and the wisdom that can come
from keeping it in the light.

♪ ♪

I just was like... uh...

"Did we do enough?
Did we... did we blow it here?

"Could I have done things
differently?

"Maybe I shouldn't even
be trying to tell her story.

"Maybe the story is there's
more that I could have done,

and maybe
she'd still be alive."

After spending time
with my musician friends,

I was beginning
to process things more openly.

And this little smile
of this little girl

has been such
a lightning rod to me

and now hundreds
and hundreds of kids

that have come through here.

BRAD:
I was invited back to speak

for an organization
of high schoolers who had come

with me on several trips
to Nicaragua over the years.

Now we need to look for ways
to do that with our kids.

I was living into the question,
as I still do today...

is Ileana's story mine to tell?

Man, I would...

I thought she would be the one
standing in front of you today.

It should have been her.

It should have been her,
not... not me.

♪ ♪

(speaking Spanish)

BRAD: Sheyla Marenco
and her husband Roberto

are social workers and teachers

that I met on one of
my earliest trips to Nicaragua.

Sheyla and Roberto
have been working

with the families
of La Chureca for decades,

and we've been close friends
since we met.

Do like this.

BRAD: After learning more
about Sheyla and Roberto's

vision for a school,
we developed a partnership

to build a primary school
for the kids of La Chureca

in Ileana's memory.

Over the last 15 years,
I learned a lot.

What it means to help
and ask for help.

As an American
and as an outsider,

here I was
from the very beginning,

trying to rescue
Ileana and Mercedes...

Ay, ay, ay.

BRAD:
in large part, on my own.

Sheyla, her husband Roberto,

Bismark, Arturo...

these friendships
and deep connections

I made over the years...

they helped me understand
how to listen

and collaborate
as a community member

to support the work
they were already doing.

15 years ago,
just being these, like...

BRAD:
Maybe that seems obvious now,

15 years later,

but this is my journey,

and part of the journey
for anyone

seeking transformative change...

to always question
what we think we know

and never let our ego
get in the way of helping

and asking for help.

♪ ♪

(laughing)

BRAD:
Ileana's legacy lives on.

Love Light + Melody,
a nonprofit organization

that grew from this journey,

took on the partnership
with Sheyla and Roberto

to support
Ileana's School of Hope,

which has been open since 2018.

In 2022, we celebrated

a completely full
elementary school,

with 184 students
enrolled there.

Now we're working to double
the school's capacity

with additional classrooms,

while raising funds
to build an arts center,

sports complex
and a high school.

♪ ♪

♪ Tire fires, power lines ♪

♪ Wild dogs, towering trucks ♪

♪ Black smoke, black cloud ♪

♪ I wonder what you saw ♪

♪ Tired eyes,
a flood of flies ♪

♪ Look around, burial ground ♪

♪ Dusk is here, disappear ♪

♪ We wonder what you saw ♪

♪ Did you see a crash
of rhinos going by? ♪

♪ Or a dazzle of zebras
in their stripes? ♪

♪ Did you race the dragons
on your bike? ♪

♪ I saw the lighter dark
and the darker light ♪

♪ Did you see the colors
in the fading ray? ♪

♪ Did you see them burst
into butterflies again? ♪

♪ Did you see your sister
standing on the waves ♪

♪ As you watched her
roll out of sight? ♪

♪ I saw the lighter dark
and the darker light ♪

♪ Tired eyes full of fire ♪

♪ Stumbling round,
burning ground ♪

♪ What'd you say? ♪

♪ Come this way ♪

♪ I wonder what you saw ♪

♪ Did you see the colors
in the fading ray? ♪

♪ Did you see them burst
into butterflies again? ♪

♪ Did you see your sister
standing on the waves ♪

♪ As you watched her
roll out of sight? ♪

♪ I saw the lighter dark
and the darker light ♪

♪ Ah, ah, ah, ah ♪

♪ Ah, ah, ah-ah, ah-ah ♪

♪ Ah, ah, ah, ah ♪

♪ Ah, ah-ah, ah. ♪

BRAD:
Leaning back into music

and sharing Ileana
and Mercedes' stories

with my musician friends
made me think

about the power and healing
of songwriting in a new way

and that writing songs together
could possibly be a vehicle

to help carry
their stories forward

and effect change.

Definitely, her story...
feel like someone that I know.

You know, because we,

the world...
we have a lot of Ileanas.

You know what I mean?

Because there's so many,
so many of us

living like that, as we speak.

You know,
she represents all of us

with that same
beautiful spirit,

because we all feel
certain pain.

That's what makes us human.