Review of Gringo Trails (2014) by Lily G — 26 Sep 2017

Gringo Trails, directed by Pegi Vail, proved to be an eye-opening documentary. The intended audience is anyone who is interested in the tourism industry and how it is slowly diminishing Earth's natural wonders.

Vail wanted viewers to recognize the damage being done to different areas of the world because tourists aren't able to respect the places they visit. The locals do their best to keep their community going by bringing more tourists in, but in the end it has the opposite desired effect because the guests do more harm than good.

When first watching this movie, I did not know what to expect. As a traveler myself, it was hard to grasp that not all places in this world are capable of visiting, only for the reason that they could be destroyed from all the tourists.

The film started out with Yossi Ghinsberg's story of getting lost in the Bolivian jungle for a month, continued to show footage of locals speaking of their homes, and stories of American citizens who had gone to other countries and their realizations when visiting.

The film covers destinations such as Bolivia, Thailand, Mali, and Bhutan. I personally enjoyed the film because it made me step back and look at the harm we are doing to our planet by traveling to these places.

Unless we can follow the local's, directions and respect our surroundings, we won't have anywhere left to travel. One aspect of the film that I really enjoyed was the personal stories shared. There was no background music, no distracting images, just the person telling their story and how their experience affected them.

The documentary did an outstanding at grabbing my attention by using the appeals of pathos and logos. I would recommend this film to anyone interested in the tourism industry, or just looking to learn something about our habits as a society.