Socially Relevant Days are Here Again
If it’s Wednesday, it must be "Social Relevance Day" at the San Diego Latino Film Festival. The tone was set by The Devil’s Miner (2005). Shot in Bolivia, this American documentary utilizes the video format very effectively. The emphasis is on the people. The silver mines of Cerro Rico are dangerous places. According to one of the miners, it is said that eight million workers have died there since colonial times. Basilio, a fourteen-year-old boy, has already been at work since the age of ten. It is through his eyes that we see this world. Directed by Kief Davidson and Richard Ladkani, we descend into a place we could literally call hell. In fact, the Catholic miners don’t think that Jesus accompanies them into the bowels of the earth. So, they worship the devil for their safety (or "tios" as they call him).
The other documentary that deals with harsh realities is Estamira (2004). This documentary centers on the story of a 63-year-old woman who has been working at a landfill in Rio de Janeiro for more than 20 years. What makes her special are the philosophical insights that she shares with us. Directors Marcos Prado and Jose Padilha explore the implications of our consumerist society. Our trash is the treasure of others. If you are ever feeling down, seeing how more than half of the less affluent world lives in these two documentaries ought to sober you up. Though the visions look like a post nuclear attack, the photography is poetic and beautiful – though depressing.
Aqui Estamos, y No Nos Vamos! (2006) from the Youth Visions program was a group effort by the Media Arts Center San Diego’s Teen Producers Project. Using video, very young film makers told the sad but very real story of immigrant life. The immigrants talked candidly about their difficulties, immigration, and discrimination. Without meaning to take away from the impressive values of this project, we are dealing with a whole different level in Crossing Arizona (2005). Due to the changing stepped up enforcement along the California and Texas border with Mexico, this video documentary shows how things have shifted to Arizona when it comes to the immigration debate.
In very real instances by virtue of the story of the peoples affected, directors Joseph Mathew and Daniel DeVivo, have done a phenomenal job in terms of objective reporting. Nothing was censored – people were allowed to say whatever they wanted. Despite that, a work has emerged that questions the status quo. Do so many people need to die for something that seems to be needed on both sides of the border? Without giving any answers, Crossing Arizona asks of us to reflect on policy – is it working? What’s the American role in this? How much of it is Mexico’s doing? Most important, how does it affect the people living in the border areas?
This is a "not to be missed" event. There are many good reasons that this was an official selection at the Sundance Film Festival this year. Mukul Khurana
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