Documentaries 50/60

MONTAGNES DU DÉSESPOIR (Mountains of Desperation)

Mario MARRET
1957
Version : French
Duration : 14'
Format : 35 mm. - 16 mm. - Béta Digit. - Béta SP - DVCam
Black & white
Scriptwriter : Mario MARRET
Producer : ARMOR Films - Fred ORAIN
Country France
With Commentaire dit par René LEBRUN
Music Jacques DE LA CROIX et thémes péruviens
Picture Mario MARRET
Stage set The Potosi region of Peru.
Archive footage - Fisherman in a boat on Lake Titicaca,
- Peruvian farmers at a market,
- Craftsman working on a rudimentary loom,
- Stone carvers in front of a church in Cuzco,
- Workers using rudimentary tools in the Potosi mines,
- Explosion of dynamite to drill the mountain,
- Industrial extraction of silver ore,
- Crashed lorry,
- Procession with musicians after a funeral,
- Mining town on the Potosi.

One day, an Indian discovered a mountain of solid silver: Potosi. Lightning and thunder warned him that this wealth would not benefit him or his people, but a stranger who would come later. That stranger was the Spaniard, and since the conquest, the Indians, starving and miserable, have plundered, turned over and excavated this mountain that has provided all of Europe and the whole world with silver. Potosi, the mushroom town built at the foot of this fabulous mountain, was the most densely populated city in the world in the 18th century. Even today, the Indians desperately dig and turn over this mountain and, although the machine has come to help them with its technicians and anonymous financiers, they are still as poor as they were in the past. Shy and reserved, the Indians have trouble getting used to industrial civilisation. Occasionally, some of them leave this disenchanted world to return to their people, their misery, but also the dignity that, for their kind, is as important as bread.
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