Already my favorite International title of the year, considering the bar is impossibly low. Since very few International titles wind up with audio description to begin with, finding one with some artistic merit is a pleasant surprise. Often, Netflix and Amazon just toss audio description on titles they determine to have broad reach, which is always a random interpretation.Espina is also disability centric, having played the Reel Abilities Film Festival in 2026. And if that isn’t enough, it is a film from Panama, about a Venezuelan ex-pat living in Mexico, who needs to go on a road trip.

Director Daniel Poehler brings a fresh, unsentimental tale centered on a disabled man, without all the bells and whistles of being an inspiration to those around him. By all accounts, Jonathan (Jonathan Benaim) is a sometimes sarcastic, yet eventually endearing full-time wheelchair user who requires assistance due to his disability, but also doesn’t let that stop him from living a life. The film itself is based on Jonathan’s life, and he technically plays himself in the film, or a version of it, while all the other characters are played by credited actors.

Jonathan needs spinal surgery, and thus the road trip begins, from Mexico to Panama, without the usual bucket list you might see in disability inspiration porn, where someone has to push his chair to a mountaintop, or he gets to drive or fly something for the first time. Really, the only thing that crosses into the territory of checking things off the list, is a sex scene, where Jonathan is being worked over by a professional, who is very vocal. He tells her the noises aren’t necessary, as he’s aware of the fact that he is perhaps not Don Juan, and she insists that this performance is what she gives to all her clients. It probably is, but just the fact he assumed she was ramping up the experience just for him, indicates situations even before the film where he likely was being catered to, probably unnecessarily.

My favorite scene was the drag bar scene, where he ends up on stage lip syncing for his life. But what makes the film stand out is that it allows Jonathan to unapologetically be dark at times, sometimes rude, or unfriendly. It isn’t presenting him as necessarily someone who is fully miserable all the time, but rather as someone with multiple shades of personality, and the focus on Jonathan and his development is what makes the film work.

Why it isn’t higher on my list is because while the disability representation is strong, the supporting cast is not. I didn’t connect with any of the friends he had along with him, largely because the film is so focused on this semi-autobiographical look at the real Jonathan, it never really stops to flesh out the friend group, and give them all equally interesting things to do, or discernible personalities to stand on the same level as Jonathan. Espina is a great film for pushing a disabled lead forward, but it loses balance by not bringing the ensemble along for the ride, which is odd in a road trip film. They are there, but they just are not the focus.

Of course the audio description was great, the entire film is not in English, leaving a lot to the AD team. There’s also a bit of a theme of masculinity here, and Jonathan’s interpretation or presentation thereof, seemingly at odds with how his disability hinders his male dominance, making his choice to go on stage at a drag show even more of a profound choice. Espina is the kind of film we disabled folk like to see more of, with honest representation, and leads who actually are disabled, not just playing one on TV.

Espina is worth celebrating for its irreverent take on disability, refusing to be trapped in a polite box of inspirational wonder, and instead daring the audience to see Jonathan as more than a man in a chair. However, the underdevelopment of those around him is what keeps Espina from being truly great. We should be able to have representation, originality, and balance.

Fresh: 7.4/10