Cerro rico, tierra rica (2012)

• 76%
• 2012
• Documentary
• Juan Vallejo

Towering above the city of Potosí, Cerro Rico is an enormous conical mountain and the richest silver field in mining history. It provided the Spanish Empire half of the world's silver during colonial times. Bolivia has recently discovered it also contains half of the world's lithium reserves in the Salar de Uyuni, located also in the Potosí region. The parallel stories of these two unique sites help create a compelling observational mosaic of mining life in Latin America: an elegy to the high plateaus of the Andes mountains and a stunning record of manual labor in southwestern Bolivia.As a whole the film offers a strong denunciation of the hardships of the working class, and of the alienation inherent in industrial work inside the mines. But it is also an act of nostalgia for the loss of certain traditions and cultural legacies the miners ways of life, unique customs, colorful garments and use of language. The indigenous culture of Bolivia has survived and maintained, if sometimes humbly, its sense of power, pride and self-knowledge, even after the ravages of colonialism and exploitation. Miners dig the tunnels of the Cerro, or extract the ever-abundant salt in the plains of the Salar de Uyuni. Their work represents both the past and the future of a mining nation.