Analysis of Film Even the Rain

Even the Rain (also known as También la lluvia) is a 2010 Spanish film about a director Sebastian and executive producer Costa who travel to Cochabamba, Bolivia to shoot a movie about the exploration and exploitation of Christopher Columbus in the New World. Sebastian and Costa find themselves in a moral crisis when their key native actor, Daniel, persistently leads the escalating Cochabamba Water War. As the shoot progresses in and around the city of Cochabamba, a real battle is brewing. The government has privatized the entire water supply and sold it to a British and American multinational. The price of water jumps by 300 percent, leading to remonstrations and riots in the streets of Cochabamba. The protest is calm at first, but things become aggressive when the government fights back, and Daniel's participation almost disturbs the shooting schedule. As Sebastian and Costa struggle with their film, the violence in the community increases daily, until the entire city erupts into the infamous Cochabamba Water War. This film takes on significant questions of everyday life, as well as moral and human responsibility.
The main characters in the film include Sebastian and Costa, who happen to be lifelong friends. Sebastian is a compulsive visionary who strives to direct controversial a film about one of history’s most influential figures, Christopher Columbus. He is determined to escalate the “myth” that western civilization's arrival in the Americas was a force for good. Instead, his story is about what Columbus set in motion; the hunt for gold, captivity of, and penal violence to those Indians who fought back. His story is counteracted by the radical priests Bartolome de las Casas and Antonio de Montesinos, the first people to ra...

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.... The action flows so seamlessly between the two elements that they often seem like aligned narratives rather than a mise-en-abîme. This flawlessness is used as a great outcome, further emphasizing that human cruelty is nothing new. It's easy to forget that Atuey, Columbus, Las Casas, Montesinos, etc. are actors playing roles-within-roles because they seem just as "real" as Costa, Sebastian and Daniel. The film's entire cast is incredible, but the star was Juan Carlos Aduviri, he gave both Atuey and Daniel distinct identities with a few common traits. Daniel and Atuey are both forthright rebels, but they have dissimilarities and (including living centuries apart). As an activist for morality and equality who believes in speaking truth to power, I found Even the Rain especially impactful. This film is certain to inspire many of us to keep fighting for what is right.