Bad Hair takes place in one of the many government urbanizaciones in the outskirts of Caracas, Venezuela built during the Chávez government (1999-current) during the months of uncertainty and political instability due to the ailing president's battle with cancer outside of the country. It follows the story of Junior (Samuel Lange Zambrano), a nine-year-old boy who has “bad hair” and wants to straighten it for his school pictures. Junior’s insistence about his hair creates a conflict between him and his mother Marta (Samantha Castillo), a 30-year-old widow dealing with economic whoas of being a single mother and the socialist government's policies. Marta criticizes Junior for being too effeminate. While Marta tries to “reeducate” her son because he does not have a father figure in his life as a role model, Junior’s paternal grandmother, Carmen (Nelly Ramos), wants to keep Junior with her and raise him because she doesn’t have anyone to take care of her in her impending old age. Junior, however, wishes to live with his mother and he struggles for her to accept him the way he is in a masculinized and military-lead society. 

Thomas J. Shalloe

Arizona State University