A sad and tragic story about a mining company turning it's back on local Peruvian townspeople.
After their village is contaminated by Mercury from the mine (some of the local people wrongly believe it is silver)and people start dying a blockade and protest starts.
Ultimately the blockade of the mine proves fruitless...or does it? There is so much more to the story than what I have mentioned and everything from the photography, location, acting and story are all first rate.
Heartbreaking and very moving, the resilience of the local people is inspiring whilst the greed of the mining companies will make you want to scream.
Who knows how many mines operate in countries such as Peru. I read a similar story in the Guardian about a year ago about an identical situation involving locals in Peru protesting against a huge plant mining for minerals to make batteries. The town has massive health issues and birth defects etc but has received little compensation from the arrogant mine owners in the US. I gather that the Peruvian government should take much of the blame as well for turning a blind eye to such devastating operations.
It's not just humans at risk from the effects of industrial waste and pollution. Consider the minerals in many mobile phones and laptops currently being mined in parts of Africa, where land clearing is killing off the gorilla population at a frightening rate.
Anyways, back to the film. I highly recommend people seeing this one on the big screen as the mountain backdrops are stunning and show how much these people are tied to the land.
After their village is contaminated by Mercury from the mine (some of the local people wrongly believe it is silver)and people start dying a blockade and protest starts.
Ultimately the blockade of the mine proves fruitless...or does it? There is so much more to the story than what I have mentioned and everything from the photography, location, acting and story are all first rate.
Heartbreaking and very moving, the resilience of the local people is inspiring whilst the greed of the mining companies will make you want to scream.
Who knows how many mines operate in countries such as Peru. I read a similar story in the Guardian about a year ago about an identical situation involving locals in Peru protesting against a huge plant mining for minerals to make batteries. The town has massive health issues and birth defects etc but has received little compensation from the arrogant mine owners in the US. I gather that the Peruvian government should take much of the blame as well for turning a blind eye to such devastating operations.
It's not just humans at risk from the effects of industrial waste and pollution. Consider the minerals in many mobile phones and laptops currently being mined in parts of Africa, where land clearing is killing off the gorilla population at a frightening rate.
Anyways, back to the film. I highly recommend people seeing this one on the big screen as the mountain backdrops are stunning and show how much these people are tied to the land.