El Niño de Medellin is a beautifully directed and produced documentary which gives us an insight to the life of the notorious reggaeton star J Balvin, and where we get to meet Jose, on a more personal level. He tells his story in a captivating way that gives the audience an insight into his true thoughts in a way that comes across completely genuine.
One of the most interesting elements of the documentary is how J Balvin clearly differentiates the two sides of his life. He highlights the reality that there is a difference between “J Balvin” who is his artist persona, and his true self “José” who is not a performer but a normal guy from Medellin.
It is evident that people often forget that behind the artist, glitz and glamour there is a normal human being under that layer who feels, breaths and eats just like anyone else in this world. Unfortunately this is one of the consequences of modern social media, where it is now easily accessible for anyone to give harsh and cruel opinions through anonymous accounts with no repercussions or censoring.
In the documentary Jose talks about J Balvin being under the cross fire since the recent horrendous acts carried out by the Colombian Military who have been killing peaceful protestors, innocent civilians, kidnapping thousands of people without any repercussions. The Colombian people have been in absolute uproar with the bloodshed and violence occurring. In turn, many have turned to the Colombian celebrities for them to be their voice through their massive platform, J Balvin being one of them.
There are mixed opinions in regards to the amount of support J Balvin has been giving the civilians of Colombia, some say he needs to do more as he has created his fame from being known as “El niño de Medellin” (The boy from Medellin) which is a very popular city in Colombia, whereas others understand that J Balvin is an artist and not a political figure. However, if you watch the documentary, you will see that Jose addresses all of this and has included very graphic and real life footage of what has been happening in Colombia, which shows us, the audience, and his fans that he is willing to speak up and share what is happening.
It is quite harrowing how amidst the private shots of Jose being with his friends, family, adoring fans and girlfriend in his beautiful home, there is the underlying struggle with anxiety and depression. He is extremely open about it through videos and interviews, it’s very admirable and brave for Jose to let the veil down and talk about the mental difficulties that have come with his celebrity status and what it demands of him.
Jose talks in depth about his depression and the anxiety he faces within this everyday life, he shares with us how important meditation has been for his mental health and how it saves his life. In Medellin we see him talking to his spiritual advisor and psychiatrist who provides him with medication.
It is clear however that his main concern and dilemma is how to respond to the events in Colombia, he goes back and forth with his friends about the negative repercussions of both not speaking up, and speaking up. A worry and dilemma that is fitting for someone who says he will think all day about the one kid he didn’t give his autograph to.
Jose is no stranger to the stigmatization surrounding the conversation about mental health among celebrities, he addresses that in the earlier days it wasn’t something to openly speak about. Now adays it is different however, with mental health conversations not being a taboo anymore, that in fact it helps countless people by making the subject open for discussion. Which is something that, “El Niño de Medellin” does, it opens this side of him in which there is vulnerability, a personal insight along with his own navigation of who he is as an artist.
El Niño de Medellin is available on Amazon Prime.
