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Even the Rain: a Confluence of Cinematic and Historical Temporalities

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Even the Rain: a Confluence of Cinematic and Historical Temporalities Even the Rain: A Confluence of Cinematic and Historical Temporalities Fabrizio Cilento Arizona Journal of Hispanic Cultural Studies, Volume 16, 2012, pp. 245-258 (Article) Published by University of Arizona DOI: 10.1353/hcs.2012.0035 For additional information about this article http://muse.jhu.edu/journals/hcs/summary/v016/16.cilento.html Access provided by University of Washington @ Seattle (19 Oct 2013 16:47 GMT) Even the Rain: A Confluence of Cinematic and Historical Temporalities Fabrizio Cilento is Assis- ven the Rain (Icíar Bollaín, 2010) takes a metacin- tant Professor of Film and ematic approach to the story of a Mexican film crew Digital Media at Messiah in Bolivia shooting an historic drama on Christopher College (PA). His scholarship E Columbus’s conquest. With the water rights riots in Bolivia focuses on films whose main characteristic lies in recon- as a background, Bollaín uses different cinematic styles to structing historical events, establish disturbing parallels between old European im- mainly political crises and perialism, the recent waves of corporate exploitation, and conspiracies. Cilento received on the individual scale, the exploitation of Bolivian actors his PhD in Comparative Lit- for the benefit of the global film industry. The film within erature from the University a film device furnishes some insights on the dynamics and of Washington in 2010. His pressures that crews face when developing a socially engaged recent article “Saviano, Gar- rone, Gomorrah: Neorealism film. Bollaín warns that these productions can fall into a and Noir in the Land of the colonialist dynamic by reproducing the imbalances between Camorra” appeared in the the ‘visible’ countries in the global film market, and ‘invisible’ Global Noir issue of Fast countries whose native actors and visually appealing locations Capitalism. are exploited. Even the Rain blends several cinematic tenden- cies, which at times clash to create a temporal short circuit. One is the visually stunning historic drama reminiscent of Hollywood epics. Another is the documentary-style shooting of Cochabamba’s urban guerrilla crisis, in which the heritage of the 1960s new waves of Latin American cinema clearly emerges. The sequences showing the film crew shooting the historic drama on Columbus at times clash with the other temporalities, and these moments are effective in reinforcing the claim that cinema should maintain a dual role of witness Arizona Journal of Hispanic Cultural Studies Volume 16, 2012 246 Arizona Journal of Hispanic Cultural Studies on contemporary abuses and preservation but together form an articulated critique of of memory. colonialism, made possible thanks to the The main characters ofEven the Rain, application of different stylistic approaches director Sebastián and executive producer to the cinematic medium. The metacin- Costa, find the production of their film put ematic narrative and the Cochabamba riot into question with the abrupt intrusion of sequences evoke the season of sociopolitical anti-government protests in Cochabamba documentaries of the 1960s and 1970s, in 2000 following the sale of Bolivia’s characterized by the use of location shoot- water rights to a private multinational ings, a mix of professional and non-profes- consortium. As Sebastián and Costa work sional actors, natural lighting, hand held at re-enacting the Spanish imperialistic cameras, and a degree of improvisation in ideals of Columbus’s age, they are chal- the dialogues. The intimate quality of some lenged by the native actor-activist Daniel sequences in Even the Rain, the presence of (Juan Carlos Aduviri) to wrestle with the actor Gael García Bernal, the psychological parallels between their film and the current development, and the character-driven plot water issues faced by the Bolivian people. suggest a link to the New Waves of Latin While Sebastián refuses to take action, American Cinema of the 1990s, which typi- Costa will overcome his initial cynicism and cally offer emotionally charged narratives in understand that in the new millennium, realistic settings (Schroeder Rodríguez 33). water is the new gold. Differently from The multi-layered hybrid style ofEven the documentaries Blue Gold: World Water the Rain brings Latin American Cinema Wars (Sam Bozzo, 2008), The Corporation into the new millennium, thanks to its (Jennifer Abbott and Mark Achbar, 2003), extreme self-reflexivity. I explore how such and even the animation Abuela Grillo (De- self-awareness is functional for Even the nis Chapon, 2009), Bollaín’s approach to Rain to locate itself ideologically in antith- the subject of water rights refrains from esis to the frozen nostalgia of Hollywood pedagogic approaches in favor of a more films depicting the conquest of the Ameri- poetic and evocative narrative. Even the cas, particularly those made for the 500th Rain does put in evidence that in order for anniversary of Columbus’s arrival. Instead, water to remain a public trust, an active lo- Bollaín’s rich and textured aesthetic style cal government will have to collaborate with reflects her unique perspective as a Span- local citizens. However, this is suggested via ish director working on an international an imaginative rather than a prescriptive co-production in Bolivia. While the film attitude, using powerful storytelling and addresses the contemporary issues of the the application of conceptual histories and role of the local government in the Bolivian temporalities. crisis, issues of infrastructure, and current Bollaín’s film emphasizes the conti- assumptions about what is ethical regarding nuity of colonialism in its different forms access to water, the innovative aspect of the throughout the centuries. She does this film is in Bollaín’s vision of Latin American while engaging with the changing styles of histories (the late 15th and early 16th cen- regional Latin American cinema over dif- tury as well as the recent guerra del agua) ferent periods. In other words, the history in its evocation of Friedrich Nietzsche’s of colonialism and the history of Latin “eternal return” and the anguishing scenario American cinema are not separate histories, a demon presents to humanity: Fabrizio Cilento 247 This life as you now live it and have logically progressing toward a climax, the lived it, you will have to live once narrative time of Even the Rain is circular— more and innumerable times more; the story of colonialism loops like a snake and there will be nothing new in it, devouring its own tail/tale. Even the Rain’s but every pain, every joy and every addictive promise is that it may reveal the thought and sigh and everything unutterably small or great in your motivations and the causes of colonialism, life will have to return to you…. which generates the desire to re-watch and The eternal hourglass of existence analyze the film, although the answer will is turned upside down again and always remain beyond it. again, and you with it, speck of dust! Even the Rain’s complex narrative (273-74). structure is based on several different lay- ers that relay the main events of the film Nietzsche’s notion of history assumes (Santaolalla 215). Here, I construct upon considerable importance in Bollaín’s film. those layers, moving from those that are Even the Rain considers the cyclical recur- closer to the actual Cochabamba events that rence of exploitation in the poorest Latin form the film’s true historical background, American nations, from colonialism to the to the fictional ones. Bollaín distinguishes more sophisticated neocolonialism of late between what events count as historical capitalism; represented not only by multina- and truthful, and which are imaginary tional corporations but also in international and mythical, or just erroneous accounts. film productions. The film’s characters are However, is important to keep in mind entrapped in a Nietzschean dimension for that each category is not to be considered most of the film, doomed to the eternal a separate box. Rather, “history is an open failure of something that will always remain ended process rather than a closed science the same and will never change. However, if and a fatality” (White xiiii). In Even the the film faces absolute nihilism, it ultimately Rain, the temporalities are deeply porous. does not fall into it. As mentioned above, I pay particular attention to the confluence Costa does not stoically accept yet another of temporalities; those moments in which cycle of colonial invasion but begins to they overlap, creating short circuits through comprehend the native’s point of view. which the film most effectively faces the Even the Rain includes some visual questions related to colonialism (what went samplings of a recent historical event, the wrong) and neocolonialism (what is wrong). Cochabamba riots, that needs to be re- peated, retold, and reframed in an endless hermeneutic process over a decade later, and The Use of TV that in turn evokes the specter of Colum- and Radio Newsreel bus in an endless game of mirrors. When colonialism is replayed via the Cochabamba Even the Rain incorporates actual television affair, this implies a perspective from which footage and radio newsreel of the Coch- historical events appear without the mitigat- abamba riots in several scenes where the di- ing circumstances of their transitory nature. rector and producer watch and comment on If the classic cinematic time of a historic the news. These raw documents establish the drama can be geometrically imagined as a simultaneity between the narrative of the straight line composed of scenes chrono- crew shooting the Columbus film and the 248 Arizona Journal of Hispanic Cultural Studies Cochabamba riots, setting the present tense the privatization process and forced Bechtel of Even the Rain around the year 2000. As out of the country. the film’s characters learn about the events It is significant that Sebastián and taking place through the actual footage, the Costa learn about these dramatic events via film’s international audiences may also learn the media rather than through the locals about the Bolivian water crisis at the turn with whom they are working.
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