Disclaimer: I was a 'script consultant' on this documentary, which graphically chronicles Canadian mining companies' use of paramilitary squads to intimidate anti-mining locals in rural Ecuador. So my take on this one is somewhat unique: I'm reacting to the incredible amount of impact and elegance that the film has gained between the last rough cut I saw and this week's Cinematheque screening. But I haven't heard anyone disagree with me yet: I can't think of a single advocacy doc that's better than this. Well okay, Kanehsatake, or High School; but it's seriously close to that league. The thing is, in spite of its zero-budget camcorder aesthetic, it's totally cinematic. Sprawlingly gorgeous in setting and disarmingly intimate in characterization, it mines its situations for all the empathetic emotional response they can carry - lots. Blessedly without narration, the story is told through interviews, but they are so diverse and articulate, and so well-integrated into the visual-narrative flow, that things never get static or simplistic. The dramatic peaks around which the film unwinds are terse, satisfyingly whole, and surprising. And the final shot may be corny, but it's also perfect.
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