The Devil's Miner is a 2005 documentary film directed by independent film directors Kief Davidson and Richard Ladkani. The film follows a fourteen-year-old Bolivian boy named Basilio Vargas who along with his twelve-year-old brother Bernardino work in the mines near the city of Potosí. The film includes many subtle realities of the miner's lives such as the need to chew coca leaves to numb the pain of hunger and the long shifts they work regardless of age.[1] The film made its world premier at the Rotterdam film festival and its U.S. debut at the Tribeca Film Festival.
The film concentrates on the concerns of local workers who have fear of what they call “Tio” or devil. In the film, an elder miner claims that over 8 million people have died in the unsafe mines. The workers believe this is because “Tio” controls the mine and that Christ has no power in the mine. The workers often give offerings such as coca leaves, alcohol, cigarettes and perform sacrifices, such as slaughtering a llama and applying its blood to the mine entrance to appease a makeshift statue of "Tio". Each mine has its own Tio which all of the workers pray to upon entering so that they may find a good vein of silver and so that they may be granted protection from explosions, toxic gas, silicosis, and falling rocks. The local Catholic priest is unable to tame these fears of “Tio” although the workers often pray at the church before entering the mine, upon observing the miners attending Mass, the local priest said that when he looked into the face of the miners he "saw Christ dying". The irony which is upon these people is one of great sorrow. They worship both God and the Devil, Light and Dark, The God of the world, and the god of the earthen mine below.
As of 2014, Basilio is studying tourism, working in the mines three nights a week, and working as a tour guide in the mines. Bernardino, now married, still works in the mines full-time whilst studying in the evenings. The boys no longer live on the mountain, however their mother remains in the same house.[2]
See alsoedit
Minerita, a documentary film about women miners of the Cerro Rico
Referencesedit
^"EL MINERO DEL DIABLO - PELICULA BOLIVIANA COMPLETA". YouTube. Retrieved 2 December 2021.
^. PBS. Archived from the original on 2017-07-20. Retrieved 2017-09-15.
devil, miner, this, article, relies, excessively, references, primary, sources, please, improve, this, article, adding, secondary, tertiary, sources, find, sources, news, newspapers, books, scholar, jstor, september, 2021, learn, when, remove, this, message, 2. This article relies excessively on references to primary sources Please improve this article by adding secondary or tertiary sources Find sources The Devil s Miner news newspapers books scholar JSTOR September 2021 Learn how and when to remove this message The Devil s Miner is a 2005 documentary film directed by independent film directors Kief Davidson and Richard Ladkani The film follows a fourteen year old Bolivian boy named Basilio Vargas who along with his twelve year old brother Bernardino work in the mines near the city of Potosi The film includes many subtle realities of the miner s lives such as the need to chew coca leaves to numb the pain of hunger and the long shifts they work regardless of age 1 The film made its world premier at the Rotterdam film festival and its U S debut at the Tribeca Film Festival The Devil s MinerPromotional poster for The Devils MinerDirected byKief Davidson Richard LadkaniWritten byKief Davidson Richard LadkaniProduced byKief Davidson Richard LadkaniStarringBasilio Vargas The miners of Cerro RicoDistributed byCinema Delicatessen theatrical First Run Features theatrical YLE Teema TV Release dateNovember 30 2005 2005 11 30 Running time82 minutesLanguageSpanish English The film concentrates on the concerns of local workers who have fear of what they call Tio or devil In the film an elder miner claims that over 8 million people have died in the unsafe mines The workers believe this is because Tio controls the mine and that Christ has no power in the mine The workers often give offerings such as coca leaves alcohol cigarettes and perform sacrifices such as slaughtering a llama and applying its blood to the mine entrance to appease a makeshift statue of Tio Each mine has its own Tio which all of the workers pray to upon entering so that they may find a good vein of silver and so that they may be granted protection from explosions toxic gas silicosis and falling rocks The local Catholic priest is unable to tame these fears of Tio although the workers often pray at the church before entering the mine upon observing the miners attending Mass the local priest said that when he looked into the face of the miners he saw Christ dying The irony which is upon these people is one of great sorrow They worship both God and the Devil Light and Dark The God of the world and the god of the earthen mine below As of 2014 Basilio is studying tourism working in the mines three nights a week and working as a tour guide in the mines Bernardino now married still works in the mines full time whilst studying in the evenings The boys no longer live on the mountain however their mother remains in the same house 2 See also editMinerita a documentary film about women miners of the Cerro RicoReferences edit EL MINERO DEL DIABLO PELICULA BOLIVIANA COMPLETA YouTube Retrieved 2 December 2021 Independent Lens THE DEVil s MINER Update PBS PBS Archived from the original on 2017 07 20 Retrieved 2017 09 15 External links editThe Devil s Miner at IMDb nbsp Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title The Devil 27s Miner amp oldid 1222592288, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,
