Set in the year 2000, in the aftermath of the Canal Zone’s return to Panama, “Culebra Cut” revisits this pivotal moment through an intimate yet political lens, examining the lingering wound of a land molded by nearly 100 years of occupation.
It follows a band of Panamanian soldiers entering the once restricted Canal Zone for the first time. Among them is Ernesto (Simmons), a young Panamanian soldier who is ordered to clean up the area around an old military school located next to an artificial lake that flooded and displaced entire communities for the construction of the Canal.