Even the Rain (También la lluvia) (2010)

Drama, History

Director: Icíar Bollaín
Writer: Paul Laverty
Starring: Karra Elejalde, Gael García Bernal, Luis Tosar, Juan Carlos Aduviri

"Spain conquered the New World for gold. 500 years later, water is gold. Not much else has changed..."

Idealist Spanish director Sebastián (Gael García Bernal) and  his executive producer Costa (Luis Tosar) travel to Bolivia, where they found a suitingly cheap location to shoot their film about Christopher Columbus's conquest of the Americas. Their production encounters increasing difficulties as they find themselves in the middle of massive local riots against a multinational water company, with their situation aggravated by their key native actor Daniel, who persistently leads the protests.

Inspired by the real-life Cochabamba protests in Bolivia in the year 2000, También la lluvia is a somewhat political film, one of those rare 'docudramas' that bring to light historical 'secrets' that beg to be shared. Well acted and emotionally compelling, the film is also interspersed with touching stories of sacrifice and heroism to help loved ones in need.

Plot summary from IMDb: Spanish director Sebastián, his executive producer Costa and all his crew are in Bolivia, in the Cochabamba area, to shoot a motion picture about Christopher Columbus, his first explorations and the way the Spaniards treated the Indians at the time. Costa has chosen this place because the budget of the film is tight and here he can hire supernumeraries, local actors and extras on the cheap. Things go more or less smoothly until a conflict erupts over the privatization of the water supply. The trouble is that one of the local actors, is a leading activist in the protest movement.

Awards: 21 wins & 16 nominations.
Runtime: 103 min
UNRAT