The Devil’s Miner (First Run/Human Rights Watch)
Picture: C+
Sound: C+ Extras: C+ Documentary: B
As part of their continuing series of vital documentary
releases, First Run Features has issued the remarkable Kief Davidson/Richard
Ladkani work The Devil’s Miner, their 2005 portrait of the atrocities of
child labor in the silver mines of Cerro Rico, Bolivia. Around since the 16th Century,
these mines have been a source of wealth for some and hell for others. The fact that after all this time, children
are allowed to work there is insane.
The story is especially about Basilio (then 14!) and
Bernardino (then 12!!!) who have to work to help their families out. There is no safety net, to program or other
resource for them, so they are stuck going inside the mountain so rough that it
is said to be “the mountain that eats men” begging the question “then what in
the hell are children doing in there at all, let alone working the damn place”
with Damned being the operative term.
To add to the insanity, there is the idea/myth that The Devil (literally
Satan) actually decides who lives and dies, including a statue that rightly
does not make the young men any more comfortable. That a culture of terrorism is added to practical slave labor not
far away from the likes of a concentration camp is just outrageous.
Just when it could not get worse, something else occurred
to this critic. Besides the insane
amounts of dust, yester-century technology to get the silver, possible cave-ins
and other poisons, there is what is being mined. Silver used to be worth hundreds of dollars an ounce, but after a
fiasco where a group of investors tried to by all the silver in the world (they
landed up with 80 to 90% supposedly) to launch their own currency, this caused
a great crash. Since then, silver has
been worth a few dollars to maybe $15 – 20 since, so now event he wealth
produced is 20 to 40 times less valuable than it used to be! This has got to change.
The anamorphically enhanced 1.78 X 1 image was shot on
tape and some of the shots of the mine alone are remarkable. They are also necessary so this work has
maximum impact. The Dolby Digital 2.0
Stereo has not surrounds, but pretty good fidelity considering the
circumstances it was shot under. Extras
included text on the film, the original trailer, four trailers for other
politically charged releases from First Run, a study guide, text on Human
Rights Watch, how you can contribute to Help The Children and a short film
about the young men appropriately called One Year Later. It runs just over 9 minutes and is a nice
update that offers some hope.
- Nicholas Sheffo
