Muleteers

In his previous documentary Soy Huao, Juan Baldana had explored the life and habits of Ecuadorian native people by making a portrait of a family who maintained their traditions against the influence of the outside world. That way of focusing on a family group living away from what some call “civilization” is still present in Arrieros: he goes up to Cajón del Maipo, in the Chilean Andes, to discover the world of Manolo, Rosita, and their whole clan. But Arrieros is quite far –literally, more than 2000 km away– from being a new version of Soy Huao. In any case, it’s another wining bet on “the act of watching: it’s the little things, that together with time is what better shows the marks of cultural clash”, according to Diego Lerer. But Cajón del Maipo is a very visited tourist site, so the relationship between the drovers and the outside world is different; and the conflicts that arise add a new layer over the patient, almost hypnotic contemplation of that resisting way of life that’s made of days of hard manual work and nights with no power amidst the immense darkness. –Mar del Plata International Film Festival