MovieChat Forums > La sierra (2005) Discussion > I wouldn't like to live there...

I wouldn't like to live there...

posted 18 years ago by gaf1983
3 replies | jump to latest

As the person who commented on this film said, it was the kind of documentary that makes the viewers not want to live in that particular barrio. The reviewer then goes on to criticise the film for being too competitive. What though is the role of a documentary maker? I presumed just to document the events before them. If the characters' lives seem repetitive, and their early deaths predictable, how is this the fault of the documentary maker? I don't think the job of the film maker is to offer solutions to the worn out people of Medellin, I think his/her job is to chronicle the lives of those filmed, and hopefully inspire the viewers to think about the issues, and in the case of a minority of them, motivate them to come up with solutions, pressurise those with power to change the situation in places like these.

[–] filmorella 18 years ago

Documentary film makers choose some characters and not others, some locations and not others. When they interview their characters, they choose the questions. After making those choices, they still have to select which scenes to include in their film. There is no such thing as "pure chronicle". The directors here chose to film in an extremely poor and violent area of Medellin, instead of a middle class neighborhood. Why? Because that kind of misery is what attracts international audiences. This film and others like it are aimed precisely at the kind of people who like to leave the theater thinking "I'm so glad I don't live there". It's still a good film, and I agree it's not the job of film makers to offer solutions to the situations they portray. But I think it fails to show the whole picture. There is a lot more to this violence than what the film shows: cocaine consumption worlwide, for example. That's where the money comes from to pay for the weapons we see in the film.

[–] arteconceptual 18 years ago

I'm totally agree with you, I live in medellin in a mid-class barrio, and when la sierra came out, i saw it with all my friends and it's pretty much like audiences all over the world you know, i'ts in a dangerous area in the outskirts of the city, we don't even know it existed. off course we know that such places exist, but it's the same in any city with violence problems, so the documental do fails to show the whole picture, I would like to see the opinion of a regular guy, 'cause all the documentalist show us is from the point of view of the people of la sierra, and the contrast is a very important part of any documental.

PD: sorry if I have any grammar mistakes, I'm still learning.

[–] 18 years ago

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