Saturday, 30 December 2006

Watching "Rio Arriba"

It is a documentary. The director who presents the film is the narrator in it. He is very serious. His family used to exploit indios for their sugar factory.

When they went back home their terraced fields were eroded away.

The other character is called Bernabés. He is a musician and very charming.

The indios in the film are now subsistence farmers and trade without money. Their biggest enemy are the "volcanoes". "Volcanoes" are massive landslides when it rains.

Bernabés plays on a wind instrument and on a type of drum when the film is over. He says they are not "ethno". He is not ethno. He is articulate and charismatic and a great ambassador for his people.

Many of the people who went to see the film will want to travel to its locations. Then the farmers will have to trade with money and be able to buy new NIKE sweaters. Maybe they will also be able to send their children to university so they can make anthropological films about the people that used to exploit them.

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