Even the Rain
También la lluvia
Spain, Mexico, France
2010
104 Min
Color
2.35:1
Spanish, Quechua, English
Synopsis
Idealist director Sebastián and his bullish producer Costa are making a film about Christopher Columbus. Sebastián is keen to present a revisionist historical epic that presents a warts-and-all portrait of Columbus’s rapacious greed for gold and his abusive treatment of the native population, pitting him against Dominican friar Bartolome de las Casas, who refuses to just stand by and turn a blind eye to Columbus’s abuses. But filming in Bolivia is no easy business, with an escalating conflict over the privatisation of water supplies in the city of Cochabamba, where the cast and crew are filming, threatening the progress of the venture. Acclaimed Spanish director Icíar Bollaín here works with Ken Loach’s habitual screenwriter Paul Laverty, juxtaposing two converging plotlines to provide a thoughtful dissection of the politics of filmmaking and the legacies of colonialism. Setting the Bolivian Water War of 2000 against Columbus’s colonisation of South America, Even the Rain is socially conscious cinema, distinguished by muscular performances and a robust political edge. —BFI
Director
Icíar Bollaín
Born in Madrid in 1967, Iciar Bollain has worked as leading actress in selected films like El sur (1983) by ‘Victor Erice’ , Malaventura (1988) by ‘Manuél Gutiérrez Aragón’ , Un paraguas para tres (1992) by Felipe Vega, Land and Freedom (1995) by Ken Loach, Leo (2000) by ‘Jose Luis Borau’, (Best Actress nomination Goya Spanish Academy Awards)Nos miran (2002), or La noche del hermano (2005).
She is a partner of film company Producciones La Iguana S.L. , writing and directing since then both documentaries and fiction films. In 1995 she wrote and directed her feature film debut, Hola, ¿estás sola? (1995) awarded among others with Best New Director and Audience Award in Valladolid International Film Festival and was nominated for Best Directorial Debut by the Spanish Film Academy. The film became one of Spain’s 1996 box office hits. Flores de otro mundo (1999) co-written with award winning novelist Julio Llamazares, was her second feature film and was awarded at Cannes Film Festival… read more
Wall
Displaying 4 of 18 wall posts.
William Low
2Dec12
A powerful script that could do way better if the character development worked better
Howard Orr
6Nov12
At its strongest in the earlier sections, where the film very effectively shows the negotiations that are made with history by the exigencies of filmmaking in a dog-eat-dog commercial industry, an industry which often only pays lip service to notions of artistic integrity. When the emphasis switches to a plain humanist slant later in the film, it comes across as formulaic and safe.
msmichel
9May12
Intelligent and thought provoking film from director Bollain with a clever script by Laverty. A film crew making a picture about Columbus and his enslavement of an indigenous native population decide to make their film in Bolivia for economic reasons. They find themselves in the midst of a battle for water rights; the latest exploitation of multinationals not seeing themselves as profiteers themselves. See it.
Related Films
Fans
Displaying 5 of 114 fans.
Articles
Our roundup of essays and articles on this film.
Berlinale 2011. Panorama Lineup, Round 2
By David Hudson on January 18, 2011
A little over two weeks ago, the Berlinale announced the first round of titles screening in the Panorama program. Today, sees a second round
SPANISH CINEMA: TAMBIEN LA LLUVIA (EVEN THE RAIN, 2010): Interview With Icíar Bollaín
By Twitchfilm.com on May 17, 2011
Icíar Bollaín’s Tambien La Lluvia (Even the Rain, 2010)—Spain’s official entry to the Foreign Language category of the Academy Awards®—made it all the way to the Oscar® shortlist. That’s a remarkable and
EVEN THE RAIN review
By Twitchfilm.com on May 17, 2011
“Even the Rain” is a spirited film that details the haves and have-nots of Bolivia, through the eyes of outsiders. It is a political and sociological film, making its points by drawing a compare/contrast
Lists
Displaying 5 of 70 lists.
Reviews
Displaying 2 of 2
How much has changed, how little has changed
By Michael Harbour on January 16, 2012
Seems at times like being behind the scenes of a Werner Herzog film. The play of the filming of Christopher Columbus’ first voyage and its effect on the natives against the current plight of the Bolivian… read review
Even the Rain
By diclem on November 6, 2010
A film can take you places you’ve never been. In this case it’s Bolivia ten years ago. A film director (Gael Garcia Bernal) is struggling to shoot a movie about Columbus’s conquest of the Indians… read review
Forum
Displaying
0 discussion topics.