Think the New World crossed with Day For Night , as an idealistic Spanish director (Gael García Bernal) and his cynical producer (Luis Tosar) pitch up in Bolivia to make a revisionist epic about Christopher Columbus’ ‘conquering’ of America.
Meanwhile, in Cochabamba the locals are resisting governmental attempts to privatise their water supply. Scripted by Ken Loach’s regular writer Paul Laverty (and directed by the latter’s wife, Icíar Bollaín), it’s an undeniably didactic drama, but scores points for stylistic ambition and its heartfelt sympathies towards the dispossessed.
