The Devil's Miner (2005)
Average Rating: 7.6/10
Reviews Counted: 26
Fresh: 24 | Rotten: 2
No consensus yet.
Average Rating: 7.8/10
Critic Reviews: 9
Fresh: 8 | Rotten: 1
No consensus yet.
liked it
Average Rating: 3.9/5
User Ratings: 636
My Rating
Movie Info
The forsaken world of Bolivian silver miners is brought to the screen in this powerful documentary. Basilio Vargas is a 14-year-old boy living in the impoverished Cerro Rico region of Bolivia. Since the death of his father, Basilio and his younger brother Bernardino are the breadwinners in his family, and they support their mother and siblings working in the Cerro Rico silver mines. Basilio is one of 800 children who regularly work the mines, and it's indicative of the danger and physically
Watch It Now
ADVERTISEMENT
All Critics (27) | Top Critics (9) | Fresh (26) | Rotten (2) | DVD (2)
A mesmerizing documentary both exotic and sad.
Top CriticThis is social documentary at its best.
While political and social context is kept to a minimum, the darkly poetic images they capture speak volumes about what the miners go through.
This beautiful, terrible story is not easily forgotten.
Guaranteed to leave you outraged at the way children -- and, for that matter, adults -- are exploited by mining companies.
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.
This documentary which exposes the twin evils of child labor and silver mining, is a most powerful expose' of an ongoing, mass-scale human tragedy.
The flawless progress of this documentary lies in the filmmakers' unwavering fealty to their subjects.
A horror movie? Nope -- documentary. Though there is, I think, a good horror movie to be made here.
The film has a tendency to repeat itself, even within its short running time of 82 minutes, but is still able to express a sincere sorrow.
It's a simple film with a direct message, but the glimpses of the surrounding social culture that has adapted to the horrors give (it) its identity.
It's a testament to the filmmakers' subtle storytelling skill that we come to see these boys as heroes as well as victims.
A role-model of a boy with the great skill to articulate his impressive determination and plan for self-improvement.
... visually beautiful, unforced essay on legacies of colonialism.
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.
Audience Reviews for The Devil's Miner
Super Reviewer
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.
Discussion Forum
There are no discussion threads for The Devil's Miner yet.
What's Hot On RT
Bradley Cooper's Best Movies
Trailer for new Coen Bros movie
Fast & Furious cars gallery
Blockbusters ranked!
Featured on RT
- Total Recall: Bradley Cooper's Best Movies 25
- Parental Guidance: Epic and Beautiful Creatures 2
- Comic Book Movies You Can Watch Online 6
- In Pictures: The Cars of Fast & Furious 0
- Digital Multiplex: Warm Bodies and Aftershock 8
- Discover the Best-Reviewed Films in Summer Movie Scorecard 2013 0
- RT on DVD & Blu-Ray: The Last Stand and Side Effects 17
Top Headlines
-
Vin Diesel Says Fast & Furious 7 Will Take Place in L.A.
0
-
10 Things You (Probably) Don't Know About the Hangover Movies
1
-
Zack Snyder, Christopher Nolan, and David S. Goyer Talk Man of Steel
0
-
New Transporter Trilogy in the Works
0
-
Richard Linklater Plans "Spiritual Sequel" to Dazed and Confused
0
-
King of Kong Filmmaker Seeks Funding for Lost Limb Documentary
0
-
Which Film Franchise Has Been the Best for Female Characters?
6
Fresh Links
Featured
Star Trek Movies Ranked
HitFix offers their own take on the worst-to-best of the Enterprise crew's cinematic adventures.
Top 10 Star Trek Villains
Rolling Stone unveils the Enterprise's most irksome adversaries.
Celebrity Yearkbook Flashback
We'll bet you never realized how many stars were cheerleaders and high school athletes!
50 Most Classic Movie Moms
In celebration of Mother's Day, TimeOut offers up 50 iconic matriarchs from the big screen.
Weirdest Movie Siblings
From Twins to The Royal Tenenbaums, Moviefone explores cinema's oddest siblings.
Promos
Follow RT on Twitter!
Spice up your feed with hourly Tomatometer updates!
Foreign Titles
- Devil's Miner - Der Berg des Teufels (DE)
[font=Century Gothic][/font]
[font=Century Gothic]"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.[/font]