I was afraid that Agüero's film would be predictable and anodyne: a panflet denouncing the architectonical brutality that Santiago de Chile underwent around the year 2000, which meant the demolition of a great number of homes providing a sector located in the Chilean's capital with a citycape of it's own
But the movie is not just a pamflet. It goes beyond that. Agüero is able to look at the scene in all it's complexity. Besides the depiction of the endless greed of the real-estate developers, who, with the complicity of the different governments, make those savage changes in the cityscape. Agüero concerns himself with other social actors involved in that experience, especially with construction workers who, alien to the speculative manoeuvres of their bosses, find in this activity a way to make ends meet. With great mastery, Agüero portrays the everyday existence of these workers, almost without saying a word, or better put, letting his interviewees speak. In constrast with the idyll that these companies promise those who purchase their flats, is the hard working and sacrificed life of the workers who built these buildings and who in turn, live in much less glamorous homes. What stroke me in particular was the sequence in which a model flat is filmed from inside, with all the furniture and decoration, while in the back of the frame a simple worker can be seen on the balcony, finishing up the cleaning of that place that will be used as a marketing tool and that has nothing to do with his own home. The scenes where Agüero captures the passing of the work-day are magnificent, since dawn when all the workers leave their places in different parts of the city of Santiago, looking for means of transport, through the extenuous labour and then back home, now night. The director carries us through a version of Santiago that is not what a tourist may see. It's rather a pure and harsh look that follows the journey in time and space of the construction workers of this country.
Regarding the topic of demolition, Agüero makes another smart move: even though the aboundance of pathetic scenes with cranes and workers destroying dozens of buildings of a Santiago that no longer exists, he is capable also of make us conscious of the human and ambiental impact, by following the life of the professor who narrates his past to the camera and exposes his painful present (due to his healths problems as well as his mother's, and to the destruction of the habitat in which he lives) and thinks about his options for the future, especially regarding where will he live when his house disappears as well. It's just that there's no better way to denounce a social tragedy than to circumscribe to the minimal but interesting story of a flesh and bones human being, with all the pain and anguish that he carries along.
But the movie is not just a pamflet. It goes beyond that. Agüero is able to look at the scene in all it's complexity. Besides the depiction of the endless greed of the real-estate developers, who, with the complicity of the different governments, make those savage changes in the cityscape. Agüero concerns himself with other social actors involved in that experience, especially with construction workers who, alien to the speculative manoeuvres of their bosses, find in this activity a way to make ends meet. With great mastery, Agüero portrays the everyday existence of these workers, almost without saying a word, or better put, letting his interviewees speak. In constrast with the idyll that these companies promise those who purchase their flats, is the hard working and sacrificed life of the workers who built these buildings and who in turn, live in much less glamorous homes. What stroke me in particular was the sequence in which a model flat is filmed from inside, with all the furniture and decoration, while in the back of the frame a simple worker can be seen on the balcony, finishing up the cleaning of that place that will be used as a marketing tool and that has nothing to do with his own home. The scenes where Agüero captures the passing of the work-day are magnificent, since dawn when all the workers leave their places in different parts of the city of Santiago, looking for means of transport, through the extenuous labour and then back home, now night. The director carries us through a version of Santiago that is not what a tourist may see. It's rather a pure and harsh look that follows the journey in time and space of the construction workers of this country.
Regarding the topic of demolition, Agüero makes another smart move: even though the aboundance of pathetic scenes with cranes and workers destroying dozens of buildings of a Santiago that no longer exists, he is capable also of make us conscious of the human and ambiental impact, by following the life of the professor who narrates his past to the camera and exposes his painful present (due to his healths problems as well as his mother's, and to the destruction of the habitat in which he lives) and thinks about his options for the future, especially regarding where will he live when his house disappears as well. It's just that there's no better way to denounce a social tragedy than to circumscribe to the minimal but interesting story of a flesh and bones human being, with all the pain and anguish that he carries along.
