Like a set of those nesting Russian dolls, "Even the Rain" has a film within a film within a film within a film, a nod to Francois Truffaut's "Day for Night," a political statement, a social polemic and a revisionist view of Christopher Columbus, all in an hour and 44 minutes. It opens today on an otherwise-quiet weekend.
Directed by Iciar Bollain from a screenplay by Paul Laverty (author of the powerful Irish political yarn, "The Wind that Shakes the Barley,"), "Even the Rain," is a strong, well-made film with a long list of interesting points, sometimes-gripping of view. Bollain's direction is crisp, though it veers toward the sentimental near the end, and Alex Catalan does a wonderful job as director of photography. The cinematography sings. The movie was Spain's nominee for the foreign-language Academy Award.
We're in Bolivia in 2000. Cost-conscious producer Costa (Luis Tesar) and idealistic director Sebastian (Gael Garcia Bernal) have substituted a mountainous Bolivian town for a Caribbean island because the natives are happy to work for $2 a day. At the same time, idealistic Sebastian is out to show Columbus as a tyrant who forced the Indians to give their gold to the emissaries of King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella, and who insisted that they also embrace Catholicism, under threat of being literally crucified if they don't.
Costa and Sebastian are hiring extras, decide they have enough, then are cowed by those who have been waiting, into interviewing more candidates. Leading these Bolivian Indians is Daniel (Juan Carlos Aduviri), a local activist. He gets a part in the film as Hatuey, a real Indian killed by the 16th-century conquistadores.
While the Spaniards are making the movie, the citizens of Cochabamba learn that they will have to pay for their water under a deal with an American corporation. This incident is based on a 2000 event when the Houston-based mega-corporation, Bechtel, made just such a deal with the government, a deal later rescinded because of citizen protests. And that's where the title comes from, an ironic reference to the fact that even the rain will not fall free of charge on the Indians.
With all of that going on, this is a movie packed with information that comes rolling out of Laverty's screenplay in fascinating style. The acting is first rate, with the cynical Costa and the romantic Sebastian playing well off one another. Aduviri is excellent as a rabble-rouser then and now, and Melena Suliz is charming as his daughter. There's also a first-rate performance from Karra Elejalde, who portrays Columbus in one movie, and is a moody drunk in another. The film inside the film bounces us from the 16th century to the 21st, but it certainly is a fascinating movie on every level.
Even the Rain opens today at the Tivoli
—Joe