Arrow-right Camera
The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Reel Rundown: ‘The Lost Children’ tale of south Colombian plane crash focuses on how country came together, if just for a moment

“The Lost Children” is streaming on Netflix.  (Courtesy of Netflix )
By Dan Webster FOR THE SPOKESMAN-REVIEW

On the face of it, you’d naturally think that a film titled “The Lost Children” would be some sort of Hansel-and-Gretel-type fairy tale. And you wouldn’t be far wrong.

What happened to four young children in the jungles of southern Colombia is as unimaginable as anything out of a Grimm Brothers tale. And it is that real-life tale that director Orlando von Einsiedel tell in the Netflix documentary “The Lost Children.”

It was on May 1, 2023, that a pilot of a small plane radioed that he’d suffered an engine failure. That was shortly before the plane, which carried seven people in all, dropped off the radar.

Four of the passengers were children: Lesly Jacobo Bonbaire, 13; Solecni Ranoque Mucutuy, 9; Tien Noriel Ronoque Mucutuy, 4; and Cristian Neryman Ranoque Mucutuy, 11 months. The search for them made headline news around the world.

The largest such operation in Colombian history, dubbed Operation Hope, began almost immediately. Members of the country’s Special Forces group, ferried in by helicopter, combed the area where they suspected the plane had crashed.

The soldiers were joined by civilian volunteers from several indigenous tribal groups. And at first this made for an uncomfortable pairing. Colombia’s military had been for some time fighting rebel groups, mainly the FARC (the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia), and some of the volunteers had past rebel connections. So mutual trust was hard to come by.

Furthermore, while the military was equipped with the latest gear, not to mention weapons, the unarmed volunteers were more familiar with the jungle itself. So while the one group depended on technology, the other depended on their culture – and respect for nature itself.

It took two weeks before the wreckage of the plane was found. But while the searchers discovered the bodies of three adults, they saw no sign of the children. The search went on.

Director von Einsiedel, a British documentarian, unveils his film in a fairly straightforward manner. Aided by a pair of co-directors, Jorge Duran and Lali Houghton, he blends talking-head interviewers of soldiers and volunteers with archival footage, some re-enactments and, near the end, even a bit of clever animation.

As anyone who has access to the internet knows, the children were found after 41 days, just at the point where the last few searchers – all indigenous volunteers – were about to give up and return home. And how it happened is its own magical tale, one involving indigenous beliefs and faith in the spirits many claim are the jungle itself.

How the children survived gets glossed over. The oldest, Lesly, apparently took charge, using what she’d learned about the jungle to find what food she could while taking care of her siblings. Even so, the two youngest were close to death.

What von Einsiedel chooses to focus on instead is how the country, wracked by civil war, came together – if for a moment – behind the search itself. And how that quest symbolizes how even the most ardent of enemies can, when they engage in a shared mission, find some sense of a common ground.

There’s a lesson for the ages.