On the cusp of violent displacement, a group of alpaca herders dwindles in Franco Garcia Becerra’s second feature Through the Rocks and Clouds. It is an age-old tale, as old as time itself and applicable to any age or place. One such choice by the director is his decision to tell this story through the eyes of a child who more or less does not know how worried and desperate his confused parents are.
The original Spanish title Raiz (‘root’ in English) has more thematic relevance than its translation into English which may be poetic but is rather vague, and seems to soften the blow of this dark package that finds hope on the periphery while focusing on them because they’re all we’ve got for now. Peruvian national football team’s distraction at brink of World Cup participation. This Andes set drama uses local color well, but also never gives us much comfort in its ending.
Like any Eight year old kid full of preoccupations, Feliciano (Alberth Merma) spends most of his time with Ronaldo his favorite alpaca, it even becomes this child’s main source for socializing too! Rambo, an older dog already past its prime years serves as another outlet where these two creatures take all the young boy’s energy about soccer, he’s currently consumed by thoughts around whether or not Peru will finally make it into what may be called “the biggest sports event worldwide”.
However, things aren’t looking good back home since some mining company wants Feliciano’s family along their neighbors out from where they live against community wishes to stay put. If one takes a closer look at things, it would seem like everything is already foretold considering that pollution has rendered useless our only means of survival local lake, apart from this people have started getting killed including animals being slaughtered thus causing panic among residents.
Ronaldo together with Rambo suddenly vanishes, so Feliciano and his understanding parents begin searching for them though grown ups are certain these creatures must have died. But the kid refuses to lose faith in anything yet, therefore he wanders off alone while elders spend time conspiring how best they can fight back against that mine.
Many parts of Through the Rocks and Clouds will appear quite familiar to various movies and shows with similar undercurrents. The last series True Detective season 3 bases its story on mining activities that wreak environmental havoc upon Alaska’s distant towns, whereas Ryusuke Hamaguchi’s Evil Does Not Exist (2023) features scenes where individuals together with their offspring face a corporation’s catastrophic intervention into peaceful rural life.
Becerra touches on some heartwarming moments for example when Feliciano gives Ronaldo a hairdo modeled after favorite soccer star Christian Cueva but this won’t be enough to satisfy those looking forward to getting moved by anything here. As Southern Winds did before it back in 2018 too; director seems more concerned about investigating kinship ties rooted within insular environments that might shape people’s realities as much as save them.
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