The Devil's Miner
by Kief Davidson, Richard Ladkani
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DVD Cover Information
Actor: Basilio Vargas, Bernardino VargasDirector: Kief Davidson, Richard Ladkani
Brand: First RUN Features
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Subtitled); Spanish (Original Language), Unknown
Format: Closed-captioned, Color, DVD, NTSC, Subtitled, Widescreen
Picture Format: 1.66:1
Running Time: 82 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2006-05-23
Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Studio: FIRST RUN FEATURES
Movie Reviews of The Devil's Miner
Movie Review: Living in Poverty with a Hope for the Future
Summary: 5 Stars
This movie is eye-opening. It shows how life in poor countries is very different in so many ways from that in the affluent USA.
What's it like to work in silver mines when you are still a child? This Spanish-language movie, with English subtitles, tells it all. The father had died years ago, and the mother must take care of younger children. So, as is true in other situations where the oldest child must grow up fast and assume many of the responsibilities of the missing parent, the 14 year-old boy must work to support the family. So does his 12 year-old brother. When the 14 year-old moves on to the larger, more profitable mine (in the "mountain that eats people"), the only consolation is the fact that the foreman pledges to the mother that he will watch out for the boy. Mining is arduous and dangerous. The miners of all ages must chew on coca leaves (the precursor to cocaine) in order to combat fatigue.
Most cases of child labor involve situations where generations of people are trapped in poverty. This situation is potentially different. The larger mine has pneumatic drills, suggesting that technological improvements in Bolivian mining will eventually make child labor unprofitable and therefore obsolete. The 12 and 14 year-old boys go to school in hopes that they can get safer and better-paying jobs when they are older. They wear uniforms that their mother can barely afford. As a professional educator, I am struck by the respect for education and its contrast with the often superficial attitudes of American parents and children towards the schooling process.
Both children and adults in this area believe that, whereas God rules the world above ground, the Tio (Satan) rules the underworld. In order to avoid tragedies and to be granted access to good veins of silver, the miners must pay homage to the devil by praying to him, lighting candles to him, and offering him gifts of tobacco, alcohol, etc. The boys explain the origins of this devil-worship: When Spanish colonists forced Indians to work in the mines, the latter sometimes rebelled. So, to instill fear, the colonists told the Indians that if they balked at working, the devil would punish them. A local priest explains how he tries to combat this old superstition.
Summary of The Devil's Miner
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