NC Latin American Film Festival: Y tambien la lluvia| Even the Rain

FRI. 10| 06. Duke. Richard White. 7pmWATER SERIES.Y tambien la lluvia| Even the Rain. Iciar Bollain (Mexico/Spain/France. 2010). 110 min. The story intertwines Columbus¿ arrival in the Americas with the making of a film; it mixes the Spanish crown¿s exploitation of gold in the 16th century with the fight for water in Cochabamba in the year 2000. The film takes us from the fiction of a period film to the reality of a film set in a small Bolivian city. But ¿Tambien la Lluvia (Even the Rain) does much more than compare historic events. It transcends the detail and delves into something much deeper and more universal. Deep down it¿s a story about loyalty, camaraderie, and empathy. It¿s essentially a tribute to friendship. Costa, a cynical film producer, and Sebastian, a young and idealistic director, work together on an ambitious project they¿re planning to shoot in Bolivia, a film about the arrival of the Spanish in the Americas that highlights their brutality and the courage of several members of the Catholic Church who fought with words against the colonizers¿ swords and chains. Father Bartolome de las Casas and Father Antonio Montesinos were the first radical voices of conscience against an Empire. But Costa and Sebastian can¿t imagine that in Bolivia, the location they¿ve chosen to represent Santo Domingo in their film, an explosive challenge awaits them. The Bolivian Water War breaks out (April, 2000).