I was fortunate enough to see En El Hoyo at a Melbourne International Film Festival screening and was delighted by this distinctive and artful piece of film-making.
Following the lives of a number of road-workers during the construction of a gargantuan bridge in Mexico City, the film follows a fairly loose narrative structure, but does what all good documentaries should do by helping us to understand why its subjects are the way they are. Rulfo offers us a mosaic of these people's lives, helping us to come to terms with the spiritual, political and psychological motivations behind their behaviour. While they remain in many ways enigmatic, particularly the wonderful Shorty, we are always connected to them because of Rulfo's skillful inclusion of humour and powerful visual sense.
And it never devolves into a simplistic political statement about their situation. They are there because they have a need to put food on the table, just like everyone else. Their job may be more physically demanding than most, but they never become martyrs or victims. Their strength is as palpable as their quiet desperation.
The final shot of the film, a sweeping five-minute (or more?) aerial shot traversing the full length of the bridge is quite overwhelming, highlighting the universality of the film's comments about work and the way we deal with it. I would certainly recommend seeing this film on the big screen to be able to absorb its full power.
Following the lives of a number of road-workers during the construction of a gargantuan bridge in Mexico City, the film follows a fairly loose narrative structure, but does what all good documentaries should do by helping us to understand why its subjects are the way they are. Rulfo offers us a mosaic of these people's lives, helping us to come to terms with the spiritual, political and psychological motivations behind their behaviour. While they remain in many ways enigmatic, particularly the wonderful Shorty, we are always connected to them because of Rulfo's skillful inclusion of humour and powerful visual sense.
And it never devolves into a simplistic political statement about their situation. They are there because they have a need to put food on the table, just like everyone else. Their job may be more physically demanding than most, but they never become martyrs or victims. Their strength is as palpable as their quiet desperation.
The final shot of the film, a sweeping five-minute (or more?) aerial shot traversing the full length of the bridge is quite overwhelming, highlighting the universality of the film's comments about work and the way we deal with it. I would certainly recommend seeing this film on the big screen to be able to absorb its full power.