Films like this break my heart. I could see the point, the end goal of the film. And yet, a series of mistakes screws the whole point up and what you're left with is a heavily flawed film with moments of potential. And so comes "También la lluvia" (Even the Rain), Spain's official entry for Best Foreign Film of the 2010 Academy Awards.
The film centers around a production of a movie about Christopher Columbus (like we really need another one) in Bolivia in the year 2000. Costa (Luis Tosar aka the bad guy from Miami Vice) is the penny-pinching producer of the flick, while Sebastian (Gael Garcia Bernal just for you ladies) is the artistic director determined to make the best film ever. They end up casting the hardworking "Indian" Daniel (Juan Carlos Aduviri) as the legendary Hatuey (native who first defied the Spanish conquerors). But as the two filmmakers learn, Daniel is one of the leaders of the disgruntled native population in Cochabamba, Bolivia who are beginning to make their moves to protest the multinational interference with the city's water supply. Thus, the film's production is put into conflict with the 2000 Cochabamba Water Wars.
First I'll get the positives out of the way: the film is wonderfully shot against the Bolivian countryside and the film does an excellent job of capturing the chaos and build up that led to a very violent and very real protest in Latin American history. Bernal, Tosar, and Aduviri all turn in great performances with what they are given. But they're not given much to work with, because the script has no idea what it's trying to do. A good portion of the film is dedicated to the rehearsals and stage setup of the Columbus film, while another portion is dedicated to the building up of tensions regarding the control of water in the city. As a result, you barely get time to know the three leads who time and time again change their motivations.
Sebastian wants to tell a Columbus story, even though he himself is hellbent on filming a particular scene involving Franciscan missionaries arguing about enslaving natives and another scene involving Hatuey's moment of infamy. In other words, the film's focus ends up changing completely. Costa is heavily concerned with the film's budget that he purposefully has the film shot in Bolivia to get cheap native labor and extras. However, he begins to grow a conscious when he offends Daniel that he is offering dirt money for all his hard work. Then he goes to right back to penny-pinching to make the film. Finally, Daniel looks like he is concerned over his daughter's welfare, but he ends up carelessly getting hurt during the protests that also end up deeply injuring his daughter.
I could see where the film ultimately wanted to go. It wanted to show how after 500 years, Latin American natives are still being brutally oppressed by foreigners and are being used for cheap labor to further the foreigners' own purposes. But the film never gets to that point. It's too busy showing the Columbus film's production and the conflicts among the actors. We are treated to many scenes involving the actors bickering among themselves and about the social-political situation. As a result, we have even less time to develop the other leads' stories. I say leads because not one actor, in my opinion, could honestly hold title to the protagonist since we keep following several character arcs that ultimately are never resolved. Also, some minor characters turn in some awful performances when their characters are needed to push some important plot points. Worst of all, the leads make some crucial decisions that have no set up to explain why they would behave in a certain way. As a result, the audience is left puzzling why they would act in that way. That being said, the film is thankfully short at 103 minutes and I can't say I was bored during its runtime.
Even the Rain desperately wants to make a connection between modern day exploitation of indigenous Latin Americans and the historical slavery of said indigenous cultures when the Spaniards came. The lead actors turn in great performances with what they are given and some great cinematography is used. It starts out meaning to say something, but like Bernal's young director, it doesn't know what to focus on, and ends up not being able to say anything at all.
The film centers around a production of a movie about Christopher Columbus (like we really need another one) in Bolivia in the year 2000. Costa (Luis Tosar aka the bad guy from Miami Vice) is the penny-pinching producer of the flick, while Sebastian (Gael Garcia Bernal just for you ladies) is the artistic director determined to make the best film ever. They end up casting the hardworking "Indian" Daniel (Juan Carlos Aduviri) as the legendary Hatuey (native who first defied the Spanish conquerors). But as the two filmmakers learn, Daniel is one of the leaders of the disgruntled native population in Cochabamba, Bolivia who are beginning to make their moves to protest the multinational interference with the city's water supply. Thus, the film's production is put into conflict with the 2000 Cochabamba Water Wars.
First I'll get the positives out of the way: the film is wonderfully shot against the Bolivian countryside and the film does an excellent job of capturing the chaos and build up that led to a very violent and very real protest in Latin American history. Bernal, Tosar, and Aduviri all turn in great performances with what they are given. But they're not given much to work with, because the script has no idea what it's trying to do. A good portion of the film is dedicated to the rehearsals and stage setup of the Columbus film, while another portion is dedicated to the building up of tensions regarding the control of water in the city. As a result, you barely get time to know the three leads who time and time again change their motivations.
Sebastian wants to tell a Columbus story, even though he himself is hellbent on filming a particular scene involving Franciscan missionaries arguing about enslaving natives and another scene involving Hatuey's moment of infamy. In other words, the film's focus ends up changing completely. Costa is heavily concerned with the film's budget that he purposefully has the film shot in Bolivia to get cheap native labor and extras. However, he begins to grow a conscious when he offends Daniel that he is offering dirt money for all his hard work. Then he goes to right back to penny-pinching to make the film. Finally, Daniel looks like he is concerned over his daughter's welfare, but he ends up carelessly getting hurt during the protests that also end up deeply injuring his daughter.
I could see where the film ultimately wanted to go. It wanted to show how after 500 years, Latin American natives are still being brutally oppressed by foreigners and are being used for cheap labor to further the foreigners' own purposes. But the film never gets to that point. It's too busy showing the Columbus film's production and the conflicts among the actors. We are treated to many scenes involving the actors bickering among themselves and about the social-political situation. As a result, we have even less time to develop the other leads' stories. I say leads because not one actor, in my opinion, could honestly hold title to the protagonist since we keep following several character arcs that ultimately are never resolved. Also, some minor characters turn in some awful performances when their characters are needed to push some important plot points. Worst of all, the leads make some crucial decisions that have no set up to explain why they would behave in a certain way. As a result, the audience is left puzzling why they would act in that way. That being said, the film is thankfully short at 103 minutes and I can't say I was bored during its runtime.
Even the Rain desperately wants to make a connection between modern day exploitation of indigenous Latin Americans and the historical slavery of said indigenous cultures when the Spaniards came. The lead actors turn in great performances with what they are given and some great cinematography is used. It starts out meaning to say something, but like Bernal's young director, it doesn't know what to focus on, and ends up not being able to say anything at all.