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Featured review
beautiful film about hope, about never giving up, about the bonds between children and elders
Documentarist Samuel Cordoba gives voice to residents of the poor fishing community of Tumaco who became his friends as he lived among them because he wanted to record their lives. Unflinchingly, SAmuel documents ugly realities including large trash piles between their homes on stilts, as well as the beauty of people like Dona Eduarda, who learns to read and write late in life and laughingly vows to keep on learning unless she dies first; the courage and determination of Carmen Julia whose face was cut apart in an attack by the father of her children and who recovered to become the leader of her community's shell pickers; the philosophy of Don Carlos, a fisherman who wanted to make his life meaningful and succeeded.
Samuel portrays the exuberance of children who laugh and mug for the camera and whose smiles brilliantly illuminate the movie. Toddlers barely able to walk navigate the slippery bridges between homes with a trust of their instincts astounding for this American. Samuel shows a community which despite the suffering imposed by poverty is rich in its human bonds and traditions, including amazing dances that recall Senegal or Mali more than they do salsa or mambo.
The viewer must supply her or his own political context such as the violent US-imposed "war on drugs" and the neglect by Colombia's rulers of its remote poor areas, especially of communities composed of descendants of African slaves. How Tumaco's people reached the coast of the Pacific and became fishermen and -women, and how their depredation of their natural resources, as well as their efforts to protect their natural environment, is playing out over time, would be another fascinating topic for a movie. Samuel had simply the aim of showing us the humanity of the people of Tumaco so that we will care about them and want to learn from them. In this, he succeeded spectacularly.
Samuel portrays the exuberance of children who laugh and mug for the camera and whose smiles brilliantly illuminate the movie. Toddlers barely able to walk navigate the slippery bridges between homes with a trust of their instincts astounding for this American. Samuel shows a community which despite the suffering imposed by poverty is rich in its human bonds and traditions, including amazing dances that recall Senegal or Mali more than they do salsa or mambo.
The viewer must supply her or his own political context such as the violent US-imposed "war on drugs" and the neglect by Colombia's rulers of its remote poor areas, especially of communities composed of descendants of African slaves. How Tumaco's people reached the coast of the Pacific and became fishermen and -women, and how their depredation of their natural resources, as well as their efforts to protect their natural environment, is playing out over time, would be another fascinating topic for a movie. Samuel had simply the aim of showing us the humanity of the people of Tumaco so that we will care about them and want to learn from them. In this, he succeeded spectacularly.
Details
- Release date
- Country of origin
- Official site
- Language
- Also known as
- Tumaco Pacífico
- Filming locations
- See more company credits at IMDbPro
Box office
- Budget
- COP 30,000,000 (estimated)
- Runtime1 hour 29 minutes
- Color
- Aspect ratio
- 1,71 : 1
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