REVIEW
CHOROPAMPA: THE PRICE OF GOLD
Produced and directed by
Ernesto Cabellos and Stephanie Boyd
Wednesday, July 30
Murray Fraser Hall 162 (U of C)
Companies have no mandate to be good citizens. Their only imperative is to turn a profit. Being a "Good Corporate Citizen" is often just a publicity stunt to boost a brand name. Most companies will not put ethics before stock value – it is up to people and their governments to put the reins on what companies can and cannot do to them.
It would be nice if it weren't true, but without strong laws it takes public outrage to make things right, and often a good documentary film can fuel that.
In the documentary Choropampa: The Price of Gold, Peruvian villagers have been poisoned by mercury from the local gold mine, which is owned by an American company. The company is not only dragging its feet in helping the people it poisoned, in some cases it actually belittles this terrible accident, although not, of course, in their press conferences or press releases – it is very serious and they are taking it very seriously.
The filmmakers say 151 kilograms of mercury was spilled off the back of a truck over a distance of more than 40 kilometres. (The official statement from the mine said that 11 litres were spilled.) Some locals along the route thought that the mercury was something of value and went about trying to gather it. Soon rashes, headaches and internal organ damage started to appear in hundreds of people, even those who did not try to touch it.
To give some perspective of what mercury can do to a person, the filmmakers go to a hospital in the U.S. There, if a blood pressure gauge breaks, or leaks its miniscule amount of mercury, the contamination unit is alerted. They suit up from head to foot and wear respirators, then vacuum up the mercury and cool off the room so that the vapours become solid and can be gathered.
On the dusty road in Peru, the clean-up consisted of some sweeping with brooms. Later, when forced to do more, the mining company had its employees dig up the side of the road with shovels. The villagers claim that everyone in the area still has ongoing symptoms.
The doctors who were first on the scene to check on the people were also mine employees. Some of the villagers said they were told by these doctors that mercury wasn’t poisonous and they had nothing to worry about. This kind of "help" went on for years.
Choropampa incorporates footage from the mine’s corporate video that tells of a concerned mining company doing everything in their power to ensure that the people affected by the mercury spill are quickly and generously taken care of. The documentary also cuts to footage from the Peruvian Secret Service, which shows special governmental and judicial deals being made to protect the mining giant.
This is a powerful and important story, but Choropampa is not very helpful in showing the plight of the people. The narrative rarely enlightens the viewer – watching it is like being a tourist caught in an uprising and only having a vague knowledge of the issues at hand.
The passionate young mayor of Choropampa is not well-educated or clever – his arguments with the mine managers are sad and impotent. Soon the village descends into petty bickering about whether to spend the money the mine gave them on paved roads or gravel roads, a sewer or a new school. Now the film makes it seems like the mine managers are right – these people are only in it for the money.
The subtitle, The Price of Gold, is a little deceptive, too. This isn’t a documentary that shows how gold mining is one of the worst practices in the world. Instead, it shows how the locals should be able to cash in on this poisonous, destructive industry.
Choropampa is a well-meaning film, but its lack of depth does no favours for its subjects. |
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