Review of Even the Rain (2011) by Jessica C — 03 Aug 2011

Could have been great. The first hour rivaled anything I've seen...ever. The ending seemed to get quite American...that is overly dramatic and predictable. That is the lone strike in an otherwise very impressive movie about exploitation.

The film is good from the opening scene when the movie is dedicated to Howard Zinn. Zinn, of course, wrote some of the greatest history books known to man, and this story within a story tells one of those bits of histories through more honest eyes than American history books. Yes, though we owe our lives as we know them to people like Columbus, he was still a sack of shit and mankind/the planet would probably be better off had he never existed. Zinn's People's History of the United States tells the real story, as does the movie within this movie. Quite intriguing. This movie features the first correspondence Columbus had with his homeland, as well as what would have been a great scene where the tribal women drown their babies out of fear the Spanish dogs would get them.

The casting is just great. Gael Garcia Bernal may be the best actor in all of the world. He's consistently great and does Spanish and English films, as well as gritty and somewhat comical ones. I can't think of an English actor with as much range as Bernal. Tosar is great. The Indian trouble maker is great. It's a pretty awesome story, but great cinematography and acting really helps as well.

The first hour is so is just brilliant: Bernal and his crew are in Latin America to make a movie about the exploitation of the natives by Columbus. How do they make the movie? By exploiting the people there now. It's so well done with lots of internal conflict. It's unfortunate the movie tried to go for broke at the end as it could have easily landed in my top 10 or top 5 list of all-time movies. I will have to think about it for a while to decide just how much I dislike that ending.