"The Devil's Miner" follows two brothers, 14-year-old Basilio and his 12-year-old brother Bernardino, who live in poverty with their mother in the mountains of Bolivia. They work long shifts in the Cerro Rico silver mines, braving deadly conditions to earn enough money to attend school. Daily the brothers go into the underground mining tunnels and tempt fate in order to gain a better life. Through the children's eyes, we encounter the sixteenth century mine, where devout Catholics sever their
ties with God each time they enter the shafts, because of the ancient belief that the devil, as represented in the hundreds of statues constructed in the tunnels, determines the fate of all who work there. Raised without a father, the boys assume many adult responsibilities and must work to afford the clothing and supplies vital to their education. Basilio believes only the mountain devil's generosity will allow them to earn enough money to continue the new school year. Without an education, the brothers have no chance to escape their destiny in the silver mines.
Directors Kief Davidson and Richard Ladkani go underground themselves to expose a form of near-slavery instituted by the Spanish conquistadors more than four centuries ago.
At times it feels as if not cameras but the audience has been transported to the high mountains of Potosi, Bolivia -- and not so much physically but somehow spiritually.
Basilio narrates his tale with such wit and wisdom that one comes away from the film wondering how much youthful potential is slowly being choked to death deep within the bowels of the earth.
Kief Davidson and Richard Ladkani's documentary The Devil's Miner is so polished that it might pass for a scripted narrative feature, but that's not a bad thing.
"The Devil's Miner" is a documentary about Basilio, a 14-year old mine worker in the silver mines in Bolivia, who has been working there for the last four years while his 12-year old brother assists him. Sometimes he works 24 hour shifts, gnawing on coca leaves to give him energy to stay awake. Life expectancy is
35-40 years for the average miner because of silicosis which is due to inhaled dust particles. Conditions in the mines are bad anyway because of risky explosions and poisonous gas. If his father had not died some years before, he would not have to work in the mines.(The mines were started in colonial times by the Spanish who exploited the Indio population as slaves. You can see how little things have changed over the years.) "The Devil's Miner" is a heartbreaking documentary that is told entirely from the point of view of Basilio, his family, other workers and a local priest. I might have had concerns about using a child to talk about a miner's life as a cheap ploy to get sympathy but it works as a look into a possible future, not only for him but for all of the other miners. Basilio goes to school and wants to become a teacher. He sees the mines as a temporary situation. Let's hope so.
March 26, 2006
Walter M.
Super Reviewer
I'm not sure what to say about it. My sister didn't like it much so she fast forwarded through most of the second half. I don't know that I can call it a bad movie, it just didn't offer much more than: Poor 14 year old kid who has to work in a mine and underground worship the devil because it is his territory
beneath the ground. Basically I felt guilty and somewhat bored. I don't think I gave the movie a good enough chance but I don't think it was great. I probably sound pretty heartless saying it was boring. Perhaps someday I will have to give it a proper chance. Honestly, it isn't that I don't feel horrible for children who have to work in a horrible and dangerous place, I just don't need 82 minutes of guilt and sympathy and admiration for poor kids to know that the world really sucks for a lot of people. But, like I said, I didn't really get to see it all so the ending might have had something great to it but I don't think I will ever actually go back and finish it and find out. Maybe I could sum it up by saying that there wasn't anything really great or unique about the documentary but the subject matter was kind of interesting and certainly the story of children laboring in dangerous mines is heartbreaking.
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