Fuerza
2018 · 20m · España
Directed by Carla Alonso
Genres: biography, documentary, sports
Tones: contemplative, provocative
Elite parapowerlifting athlete Loida Zabala has participated in three Paralympics and lifts twice her own weight, yet people still ask her whether she is a self-sufficient woman.
Picked by Zoe
The scouts
The premise sounds like it could be a standard inspire-porn doc, but Alonso's restraint—letting the gap between Loida's athletic dominance and the world's refusal to see her as capable speak for itself—is genuinely unsettling in a way most docs aren't brave enough to attempt.
A formally precise interrogation of the documentary subject's agency; Alonso positions the camera as witness rather than cheerleader, situating herself within a lineage of sports docs that complicate rather than celebrate the athlete's narrative.
The decision to hold on Loida's face during those dismissive questions—letting us read her response rather than cut to her lifting—transforms what could've been triumphalist into something far more complex and human, and that single editorial choice is the entire film.