Lucca's World, streaming on Netflix, has fans wondering if it was based on a true story.
The new drama follows the parents of a young boy, Lucca, as they navigate the ups and downs of raising a child with cerebral palsy.
Things take a turn in the film, however, as the family travels across the world for what seems to be a life-changing treatment for Lucca, something that could potentially reverse his diagnosis.
Is Lucca's World Based on a True Story?
Lucca's World is so believable that audiences worldwide have been left to question what is real and what is fake from the Netflix drama.
Well, it may come as no surprise, but Lucca's World is based on actual events (akin to something like the recently released You Gotta Believe).
The hit Netflix drama is based on the autobiographical book The Two Hemispheres of Lucca by Bárbara Anderson. Anderson wrote the book about her experiences raising a child with cerebral palsy and the everyday challenges that come from it.
Just like the book, the film follows Bárbara and her husband, Andrés, as they raise Lucca, a young boy who deals with the irreversible diagnosis of cerebral palsy.
That is until Bárbara hears of an experimental miracle treatment in India that could potentially cure her son. This sends both her and her baby boy across the world, risking everything to see if she could make life for Lucca a little bit easier.
While Lucca's World clearly states that some of the film's events have been altered for dramatic purposes, much of Bárbara's true-to-life story remains intact. This includes the hunt for Lucca's miracle cure, the financial precarity that results from that, and the ensuing fight to ensure fair access to these sorts of treatments around the world.
One specific point in the film shows Bárbara and Andrés back in Mexico as they see the results of Lucca's treatment start to work. Unable to return to India to continue the treatment, they begin an impassioned campaign in their home country to allow better, more local access to such medical professionals.
The real-life Bárbara continues this fight to this day, telling AP News in the wake of the film's release, "We are still waiting for official authorizations for this technology to operate in Mexico:"
"We are still waiting for official authorizations for this technology to operate in Mexico. The machines are already in Mexico, but we need the final approvals."
The movie's authenticity to Anderson's experience over the years was largely due to its director, Mariana Chenillo. Chenillo notably recreated many specific scenes using Anderson Family photos and video.
Bárbara Anderson described the experience of seeing these particular moments from her life so vividly rendered on-screen as "a brutally realistic process" (via El Economista):
"It was a brutally realistic process. Many scenes were based on family videos and photos, which made the experience doubly powerful. I was impressed by the way the actors engaged, with respect and curiosity, to portray our story as authentically as possible."
"Watching yourself in a movie is very difficult to explain," Anderson remarked in a January 2025 interview with Netflix, positing that "they often say that reality outdoes fiction, [but] this time fiction catapulted our life to another level:"
"Watching yourself in a movie is very difficult to explain, I cried when I saw us 'being' again. Listening to Bárbara Mori and Juan Pablo Medina's voices, with my timbre or with Andrés, my husband's stock phrases... I saw us 'being' other people and my body froze. As they often say that reality outdoes fiction, this time fiction catapulted our life to another level."
Luuca's World is just the latest streaming hit to describe the lives and times of people with cerebral palsy. Disney+'s Out of My Mind did the same, telling the story of a young girl named Melody Brooks (read more about Out of My Mind here).
Lucca's World is streaming on Netflix.
