Even the Rain (2010)

Genre: Drama

Directed by: Iciar Bollain

Starring: Luis Tosar, Gael Garcia Bernal, Juan Carlos Aduviri

Running time: 104 minutes

Even the Rain is the English title of a Spanish movie called También la lluvia. It tells the story of a Spanish movie director and his executive producer traveling to Bolivia in 2000 to shoot a film about Christopher Columbus’ conquest. Things don’t go as smoothly as planned because they find themselves in the midst of the Bolivian Water War, in which one of their local extras is an integral part. They now face a moral crisis and are torn between their desire to complete their project and the feelings of empathy for a group of native people fighting so hard for something that can seem so basic and easily accessible in other parts of the world.

Though I sometimes find subtitled foreign films difficult to follow, because it can be hard to watch the action fully and read at the same time, Even the Rain is such a beautiful work of art that it was a pleasure to take it all in. The acting was superb, the cinematography extraordinary and the message the film carries is powerful. I could not understand the language being spoken, but every actor conveyed the needed emotions in their eyes and in their whole faces.

Even the Rain certainly is not a light little film, but it is well worth the time and effort for anyone willing to embark on a thought-provoking ride. That final scene has remained with me for the past few days, such profound imagery in something so simple.

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