A stark, sobering and engrossing documentary, La Sierra takes its name from a seedy,
violent barrio in the town of
If that name in turn sounds familiar,
it’s of course because it lent itself to Pablo Escobar’s infamous drug-running cartel
of
cocaine capital of the world and scourge of
A state of perpetual urban warfare exists in the country, with leftist ELN guerrillas,
a small handful of paramilitary gangs and the American-backed Colombian
military continually battling for power and control. Though bumped off the front
pages of newspapers by the conjoined morass of
and
the toll has been devastating: more than 30,000 civilians killed in the past
decade.
into a gritty rhetorical assessment, La
Sierra explores what it means to live amidst constant violence — where the
sound of machinegun fire is as common as crickets at night — and how that sadism
and brutality warps the sensibilities and duties of the young. First up is Edison
Florez, aka “The Doll,” a commander of Bloque Metro, a right-wing militia. At
the age of 22, he is the de facto mayor of the neighborhood and already the father
of six children, to a half dozen different women.
is an intelligent and charismatic young man, making his openly communicated dedication
to a life of violence all the more frightening. As we follow
through the small victories and setbacks of conflict, he shares his dreams for
himself and his children and explains his possessory attachment to what he
calls “my war.” It offers a chillingly parallel glimpse into the grunt-level, on-the-ground
psychology of the internecine civil feud raging in
right now.
countryside as a young child when her brother and father were murdered by
guerillas. A mother by 15 and a widow the following year, when the father of
her baby was cut down in gang violence, Cielo is now devoted to a new boyfriend…
whom she visits in jail every Sunday. Jesus, 19, is a mid-level paramilitary
member. Badly wounded when a homemade grenade blew up in his hands and face,
Jesus presents himself as ready for death at any moment, regularly indulging in
marijuana and cocaine.
Intimate and hard to watch, but never evincing a feeling of
wallowing in artfully arranged despair for despair’s sake, the brisk, 84-minute
La Sierra unfolds in a bleak,
unforgiving world into which few journalists or documentarians would dare to venture,
and with good reason. Co-directed by Scott Dalton — a nine-year veteran of freelance
Latin American photojournalism who once spent 11 days in kidnapped captivity — and
Associated Press reporter Margarita Martinez, La Sierra reveals not only startling moments of violence and its
aftermath, but also bits of tenderness and faith that give the community hope
for survival. In the end, it’s a heartrending movie about how sustained violence irrevocably
shapes and informs the opinions and options of not just those primarily
involved, but generations to come.
in 1.33:1 full frame, and with a Dolby digital 5.1 audio track. DVD bonus
features are fairly sparse, including only some cursory film notes and a trailer
for the movie. More edifying historical and/or current events information would
have further fed the wonkish audience for this type of title, but it isn’t a
prerequisite to the teeth-gritting enlightenment La Sierra provides. No “enjoyment” to be found here, but then
again, that’s part of the point, and something that all of us lucky enough to
be even reading a review like this need reminding of from time to time. To purchase the movie from Amazon, click here. B+
(Movie) C+ (Disc)
