内容摘要：An autopsy confirmed that Laster collapsed due to the heat but said the cause of death was cardiac arrythmia due to a gene mutation - a finding the family disputes, saying their son was previously healthy.

An autopsy confirmed that Laster collapsed due to the heat but said the cause of death was cardiac arrythmia due to a gene mutation - a finding the family disputes, saying their son was previously healthy.

Luciane Mengual, 22, a mother of two from the Wayuu community, lives with her 47-year-old mother, Nelly, in an informal settlement called Villa del Sur on the outskirts of Riohacha in northern Colombia. The family migrated from Maracaibo, Venezuela, near the border, seeking better opportunities amid economic hardships in Venezuela.Their home, built from scrap materials like tin, wood, and plastic tarp, lies in an area recently devastated by extreme flooding. The usually dry region of La Guajira has been hit by increasingly frequent and intense floods, submerging makeshift homes that lack basic services like running water or sewage systems. Heavy winds, typical of the area, often tear off their roof, further threatening their fragile living conditions.

An Indigenous Wayuu family rests in a chinchorro, a handmade hammock, in the Belen neighborhood on the outskirts of Riohacha, Colombia, Tuesday, Feb. 4, 2025. (AP Photo/Ivan Valencia)An Indigenous Wayuu family rests in a chinchorro, a handmade hammock, in the Belen neighborhood on the outskirts of Riohacha, Colombia, Tuesday, Feb. 4, 2025. (AP Photo/Ivan Valencia)A Wayuu Indigenous family rested in a chinchorro, a traditional woven bed that many prefer over mattresses. Unlike a standard hammock, a chinchorro features an enclosed, elongated design with sides that gently wrap around the body, offering a cocoon-like feel. Wayuu people consider it more comfortable for sleeping than a hammock.

This family, also made up of Wayuu migrants from Venezuela, lives in an informal settlement, right beside Riohacha’s airport. Their house, with no running water, is prone to the severe floods and extreme heat that has ravished the La Guajira region in recent years.Rosa Elena Gonzalez, 45, an Indigenous woman from the Wayuu community, poses for the photo in her kitchen in the Somos Unidos neighborhood on the outskirts of Maicao, Colombia, Wednesday, Feb. 5, 2025. (AP Photo/Ivan Valencia)

Rosa Elena Gonzalez, 45, an Indigenous woman from the Wayuu community, poses for the photo in her kitchen in the Somos Unidos neighborhood on the outskirts of Maicao, Colombia, Wednesday, Feb. 5, 2025. (AP Photo/Ivan Valencia)

Rosa Elena González, 45, is a Wayuu woman from Maracaibo, Venezuela. She has been living in the Somos Unidos informal neighborhood in Maicao, Colombia, for the past seven years, after migrating from Venezuela.But after this rush of cavalier soldiering and bitter sarcasm comes a sobering moment. Merit blinks her eyes and is instead staring at an empty chair. Zoe isn’t there at all.

“My Dead Friend Zoe,” co-starringand Ed Harris, confronts a dark reality of post-combat struggle with as much humor and playfulness as it does trauma and sorrow. It comes from a real place, and you can tell. Hausmann-Stoke is himself a veteran and “My Dead Friend Zoe” is dedicated to a pair of his platoon mates who killed themselves. The opening titles note the film was “inspired by a true story.”

Audience disinterest has characterized many, though not all, of the films about theand the output has pretty much dried up over the years. “My Dead Friend Zoe” feels like it was made with an awareness of that trend and as a rebuke to it.