A production company arrives in Bolivia to film a movie about the arrival of Columbus in the New World. Caribbean Taino, Andean Quechua – the cost-cutting producer doesn’t seem to care, they’re all the same thing as far as he’s concerned, and they’ll work for $2 a day. The director, Gael Garcia Bernal, is focused only on getting his movie made. The actor playing Columbus is a drunk. And meanwhile, an American company is privatising the water supply of Cochabamba, and the locals, including the leading Bolivian actor, are up in arms. Next thing, they fear, they’ll even privatise the rain….
F%*& me, Even the Rain is a cracking movie. It’s got everything I like: filming on location, cutting social commentary, colonial history, behind-the-scenes stuff, South America. It’s beautifully made, told in a fascinating juxtaposition of rehearsals, filmed performances and live action. But it’s the parallels between the destruction of the native way of life under the Spaniards (as they enslave the tribes for gold) and the equally reprehensible abuse by the gringos 500 years later that is so compelling. I loved it. And it filmed in Cochabamba, where actual water riots took place in 2000…..