Known as the Gran Circo Mexico, this struggling caravan of lions, llamas, clowns and contortionists is constantly on the move. Stopping for only one or two days at a time, the 10-person outfit (5 adults and 5 children) toils in an endless cycle of loading and offloading, erecting and disassembling. For Tino Ponce, the ringmaster and jack of all trades, there is no other possible life, and his fierce love for the business is ample consolation for his lack of literacy.

But his wife, Ivonne — who married into the circus — feels differently. “They give us too much,” she says, watching her young children juggle, contort and swing from silk streamers. The daily grind of chores, rehearsals and performances leaves little time for school, and Ivonne resents their unrelentingly laborious life and her father-in-law’s monopoly on their earnings. And though her children seem mostly content — while marveling that their peers in the towns they pass through do nothing but “go to school and play”— it soon becomes clear that the animals are not the only ones who are caged.

The first feature from Aaron Schock (who also shot the film’s soft, smudged images), “Circo” offers a touching chronicle of a dying culture harnessed to ambitions that remain very much alive. Never mind the declining attendance, collapsing economy, backbreaking debt and intra-familial tensions; to Tino his circus is still the greatest show on earth.

CIRCO

Opens on Friday in Manhattan.

Produced and directed by Aaron Schock; written by Mr. Schock and Mark Becker; director of photography, Mr. Schock; edited by Mr. Becker; music by Calexico; produced by Jannat Gargi, Hecho a Mano Films and the Independent Television Service; released by First Run Features. At the IFC Center, 323 Avenue of the Americas, at Third Street, Greenwich Village. In Spanish, with English subtitles. Running time: 1 hour 15 minutes. This film is not rated.