MovieChat Forums > The Devil's Miner (2005) Discussion > Should be shown to American teenagers

Should be shown to American teenagers

posted 14 years ago by Annie_Donia
1 reply | jump to latest

While I was watching this film I could not stop thinking that this film should be shown to children in the U.S. who are Basilio's age, or a couple years younger, (he is 14 yrs. old), so they can appreciate what they have and not strive for the overly materialistic lifestyles that are looked up to in this country. MTV bombards our children and teenagers with shows like "My Sweet Sixteen" and "Teenage Cribs" which show a bunch a rich kids who live an affluent lifestyle while seemeingly void of appreciation or understanding that if their parents sacrificed just a small bit of the fortune they bestow upon their spoiled children, other children in this country and other poor countries could have the basic neccesities of life. Necessities that Basilio and his brother and so many other children in the silver mines in Bolivia must work for in dangerous, cruel and life threatening ways portrayed in this film. I am only mentioning teenagers in the U.S. because I live here. I am sure this goes on in many other capitalistic countries but I have only witnessed it for myself here.

If we put as much attention to educating our young people about poverty and poor conditions in the REAL world as we do brain washing them to be good little materialistic consumers we would have a much more altruistic society. I am not going to condemn capitalism but it seems to have gotten out of control especially with the younger generations.*

*actually I would also like to show this film, and others like it, to some of these wacky, self indulgent women on the Bravo reality shows like "The Housewives of N.Y.C." and other similar programs.

"The secret waits for eyes unclouded by longing."

[–] reelbutter 8 years ago

I'm going to have to watch this film.

I agree and a lot of the horrible work others do, is partly because everyone just wants more stuff. We feed the beast for sure but the ones who really benefit are the ones on tippy top of society. Those who make the most off exploiting .... well .... all of us basically. Some just get more exploited than others.

Funny how people always feel they have to defend themselves when mentioning capitalism problems(Even me at times) and capitalism is just like anything else ... it has it's good and bad, these days more bad than good to my thinking. We shouldn't have to, it's just a system, like all the systems, like the systems that run your computer or an assembly line. Many get so protective of capitalism but you wouldn't about a computer that broke or an assembly line that stopped working, if it had problems, if there's a solution, if it stopped working correctly, you'd fit it right? That's what capitalism needs, fixing, a big overhaul.

Good post, thanks for sharing. After I see it, I'll post my thoughts.