Even The Rain | Tambien la Lluvia
Director: Iciar Bollain
Spain/Mexico/France | 2011 | 103 mins | Cert: CLUB
Starring: Luis Tosar, Gael Garcia Bernal, Juan Carlos Aduviri, Karra Elejalde, Carlos Santos, Raul Arevalo
Language: Spanish, Quechua
Gael García Bernal (Amores perros) stars as film director Sebastian who, along with his hard-nosed producer Costa (Luis Tosar), sets out to make a revisionist drama about the Spanish conquest of the Americas. Costa has decided to shoot in Bolivia, because it’s the cheapest place in South America. Sebastian casts a local man, Daniel, as the Taíno chieftain who led a rebellion against the Spaniards. Unbeknownst to the director, Daniel is leading his community’s demonstrations against the government’s decision to privatise water. As the filming progresses, the two stories – the 1512 rebellion and the twenty-first-century riots – cleverly serve to underline the impact of colonialism on the New World and the continuing exploitation of its resources by outsiders. This engrossing and multi-layered film-within-a-film is scripted by Ken Loach-collaborator Paul Laverty (Looking for Eric, The Wind That Shakes the Barley) and directed by Icíar Bollaín (Take My Eyes). – Sydney Film Festival 2012
