Marmato | 2014 Sundance Review

Grieco Witnesses Dirty Deeds Done In Exchange For Gold

Mining is a dirty business, obviously, but not just in the harsh physical conditions of the job. This is a locale based industry that effects entire communities, has bred conflict over working conditions as in Barbara Kopple’s monumental Harlan County, U.S.A., and can lead to imperialization and communal displacement, as in Mark Grieco’s documentary debut, Marmato, which documents the buyout of local mining companies in the title Colombian community by various muscle flexing Canadian corporations. Unable to fully fund their community leveling open pit plans that mean to suck all the gold within, the companies close the mine, leaving locals without work while providing no alternatives to support their families. Over the course of months and years, Grieco follows these events up to an anxiety ridden pinnacle of political fervor, but seemingly due to time constraints, fails to follow through with a proper conclusion.

Does the decaying village of Marmato lose it’s cultural heritage to the roar of bulldozers and avalanche of excavators? Or does this backbreaking community win the day, rebelling against the ridiculous new laws which prohibit proprietary mining operations access to dynamite, a crucial tool for loosening gold from its embedded chasms under the mountain? Maybe these are not questions Grieco meant to answer. Instead he focuses on the question of whether or not the people of Marmato would actually be better off thanks to the influx of international cash flow into the community. There is much time devoted to exposing the questionable conditions of miners’ homes, some said to be ready to slide down the sloped city at any moment. According to corporate promotional videos for the open pit proposal, jobs will be, at least partially, locally sourced. After ripping the wealth of gold from under the mountain, prosperity will be showered back upon the village of Marmato in the form of schools, shops and happiness for all. But, unsafe living conditions and the temptation of something new and all, the people feel that the beloved Marmato that has functioned the same way for the last 500 years, will be gone.

Siding with the community in uproar, the proposal is perceived here as a threat on the well being of each and every mining family when the mines are inexplicably closed. Out of desperation, the mines are forced open and gold once again begins to flow out with the blood and sweat of the local prospectors. Mini portraits of these tireless, grateful men of tradition are where the heart of Marmato lies. Most want nothing more than to better the lives of their loved ones, but not with the helping hands of backsliding strangers who blindly threaten rather than actually attempting a partnership with the people. Diving deep into the depths of Marmato (quite literally), Grieco’s film acts as an advocate for cultural preservation, but in doing he’s unfortunately woven a story as muddled as the conflict it documents.

★★½/☆☆☆☆☆

Reviewed on January 17th at the 2014 Sundance Film Festival – U.S. DOCUMENTARY COMPETITION Programme. 87 Min