User Reviews

I saw this film on the last day of the Berlinale and it's seduced me right away. The room by room 360 degree rotating camera scenes did remind me slightly uncomfortably of estate agent guides however the film deserves a lot of credit for its subtlety and restraint. The characters are entirely realistic and multi-dimensional, a rarity in films dealing with class and race. In particular the exchanges between mother and daughter for me exemplified the balance and impartiality of the film.

I would thoroughly recommend this whether you are looking for an examination of class, race and family or just wish for a couple of hours of stunning scenery, endearing characters and beautiful music.

This film is one of those 'as time goes by' kind of movies. They're out there, and sometimes they are shot in still images unlike this film (You, the Living comes to mind), but they're not too common and only some can pull it off. It's like we're following everything that the characters are doing, and our own following them, the cinematographer's fascination seeping out over to us, is what makes it fascinating (or at least in theory). In Southern District the director Juan Carlos Valdivia takes his roaming never-stopping camera on to decay and disorder (almost as a rule like Godard's Weekend with the rule of never-stopping the tracking shot during a traffic jam). In this case it's not very quick but a slow burn as a Bolivian family that has money but no power sees itself fleeting in a place where many of their friends question why they stay, and the indigenous servants look on with shaking heads. Only the young Andres is innocent to what's going on.

What made me interested was to see how long Valdivia could keep the shot going, or where he could take it. This is an experiment in mis-en-scene as he tries to find ways to keep the actors blocked within reason - there's not much outside of the surreal flights of fancy with Andres and his mother with wings flying in the sky that is unusual, maybe that's enough - and sometimes a shot will go on as long as five minutes. But his tracking shots are with some taste and style, for example in sex scenes with the younger people of the family he only shows so much nudity and the actors still make it erotic without going too far. It's tough and clever to pull off at the same time.

As for the characters themselves, they are sometimes quite interesting - the Mother of the family, who can look like a one-dimensional shrew, has some depth in unexpected moments and is fully rounded because she does have love and reason amid her upper-class leanings. And the Indians are really fun to watch, especially when the one guy puts on his boss' lotions and cologne's and does a full shower in their bathroom. Other characters like the siblings Patricio and Bernada are less interesting, but then are in their shallow upper-class existence anyway, dominated by sex and gambling and alcohol and other things. But still that camera goes, and we keep watching as, oddly enough not a lot goes on.

For some that may be distracting. It may be too much and call attention to itself that the camera doesn't stop circling (though not too fast, always noticeable) during a dinner scene, or when two characters are just walking in the room). There's an anxious energy to the film that mirrors the anxiety of living this way, and living on the edge of despair that they are doing. We may not feel sympathy for their plight, but if you can buy into what the director's doing the goals are met. It's a little-discovered experiment that has the air of Brian De Palma tackling Luis Bunuel.

This movie was released in late 2009 and early 2010 so it was probably being written and filmed about the time Bolivia was working to replace its 1967 constitution with the current one adopted on February 7th, 2009. One of the young characters mentions that he wants to study Constitutional Law, to learn more about this new constitution.

Not to be disrespectful to this fine movie but for me an equally important gain was the impetus to learn more about Bolivia, this South American country locked by its surrounding countries, Chile, Peru, Brazil, Paraguay, and Argentina. In its short almost 200 year history it has had at least six different constitutions.

It is not clear to me in this movie, set in the Southern District of La Paz, why this is happening but we see a family living in an obviously wealthy manner, large sprawling home with expensive appointments, generous land with gardens and trees, all enclosed by a stone security wall and locked metal bar gates. Their lifestyle includes a maid and a man servant who does everything for the divorced lady of the house, even fetching her underwear and purse for the evening. He has been there 25 years and operates almost as a passive husband who also drives the car, prepares meals, and keeps up the property.

But he hasn't received any salary for at least the past 6 months. There doesn't seem to be any money to pay the grocers and the family's ability to buy on credit seems to be ending. The lady seems to be a businesswoman but there is no indication that funds are coming in, it is clear that their whole way of life, including college for the two older children, is in jeopardy.

Near the end of the movie an indigenous woman arrives for a visit, along with her is a suitcase full of cash, she apparently knows about the financial difficulties and offers to buy the house for a large sum so she can convert it for use by her own extended family. There is no specific resolution but as the movie ends the lady of the house has started to wrap framed family photos and her young son asks why she is crying. The message is very subtle, as are the occasional images of adults in the house gazing out a window with the right palm pressed against the glass.

Perhaps that final element of the story was to show that the old money wealthy families are now gradually being replaced by the indigenous peoples who had centuries earlier been pushed out, as Bolivia's new constitution calls for a mixed economy of state, private, and communal ownership, and restricts private land ownership.

This is a very interesting movie but as an English speaker I had to quickly read bright yellow subtitles. The characters speak very fast in most conversations. I found this on DVD at my public library, my wife skipped, she doesn't like movies with subtitles.

Set in La Paz we meet an upper class family whose matriarch rules the roost having divorced her husband but retained the house, the kids and the servants. Her three children seem to want for nothing, the daughter and eldest son seem to think hedonism is a virtue and embrace it with full gusto. The youngest is totally charming and seems to walk the divide between the privilege of his family and the drudgery of the domestics.

The butler Wilson does everything for them from cooking their meals to finding where they have left their towel and is a virtual slave to the job – even losing touch with his Aymaran roots and village. But things are moving on in Bolivia, the times they are a changin' and the age of blatant discrimination is coming to an end. The luxurious home in which they live in their protected bubble is about to burst as outside factors and internal strife play catch up.

This is a beautifully made, filmed and acted piece of cinema. It oozes style too and the extensive use of white to dramatic and stylistic effect is truly powerful. It is a film where there are slow reveals but all of them just build and build and the plot will carry you along to the ultimate dénouement. I absolutely loved this film and wish we were afforded more chances to see films from the director Juan Carlos Valdivia in the west – we are missing out on a great talent.