The Devil's Miner

The Devil's Miner
by Kief Davidson, Richard Ladkani

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DVD details

Actor: Basilio Vargas, Bernardino Vargas
Director: Kief Davidson, Richard Ladkani
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: Spanish (Original Language), Unknown; English (Subtitled)
Format: Closed-captioned, Color, DVD, NTSC, Subtitled, Widescreen
Picture Format: 1.66:1
Running Time: 82 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2006-05-23
Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Studio: FIRST RUN FEATURES

DVD Reviews of The Devil's Miner

DVD Review: The Devil's Miner
Summary: 5 Stars

The Devil's Miner This is a great DVD that I recommend to all those people that love children and want to do something good for them. It is a real story and every kid in America should see it. I had given this DVD to 2 recent college graduates and both loved this DVD. It doesn't matter what part of the world you live, children are children everywhere and should be respected.

Love this DVD. Please see it!!

Mrs. Montes

DVD Review: Excellent!
Summary: 5 Stars

This is a film that people need to watch. It will make you appreciate what you have both materially and personally. It will also allow you see first-hand how a little boy is forced to work in order to survive in the savage system of exploitation known to us as Capitalism. This so-called non-failed system HAS failed for this boy who's life we are allow to follow in this great film. I strongly recommend it; it will make you reflect more than any Hollywood film.

DVD Review: Great movie!
Summary: 5 Stars

This movie was so insightful. I used it as an optional project in my Spanish class and the students that chose to watch it really learned a lot.

DVD Review: Child Laborers In Bolivia
Summary: 5 Stars

Basilio and Bernandino Vargas are two Bolivian kids who, because of the death of their father, have to work as child laborers in the Cerro Rico silver mines. Basilio works long shifts for $2.50 a day. But then transfers to a more dangerous mine where he is able to make $4.00 a day. Somehow he manages to also attend to school, though he has to spend a substantial amount of his salary just to pay for his school uniform.

One of the great things about this doc is that the film makers have a sincere humanitarian purpose. They not only want to educate viewers about the horrors of child labor. But actually do something tangiable to better the lives of these kids.

Included in the bonus features is a short film which shows how Basilio and Bernardino are doing one year after filming. Apparently an aide agency called Kindernothilfe has enabled the boys to leave the mines, move their family into a apartment in Potosi and continue their educations so they will have better opportunities in life.

I wish these great youngsters, and others like them, all the best. They deserve it!

DVD Review: Living in Poverty with a Hope for the Future
Summary: 5 Stars

This movie is eye-opening. It shows how life in poor countries is very different in so many ways from that in the affluent USA.

What's it like to work in silver mines when you are still a child? This Spanish-language movie, with English subtitles, tells it all. The father had died years ago, and the mother must take care of younger children. So, as is true in other situations where the oldest child must grow up fast and assume many of the responsibilities of the missing parent, the 14 year-old boy must work to support the family. So does his 12 year-old brother. When the 14 year-old moves on to the larger, more profitable mine (in the "mountain that eats people"), the only consolation is the fact that the foreman pledges to the mother that he will watch out for the boy. Mining is arduous and dangerous. The miners of all ages must chew on coca leaves (the precursor to cocaine) in order to combat fatigue.

Most cases of child labor involve situations where generations of people are trapped in poverty. This situation is potentially different. The larger mine has pneumatic drills, suggesting that technological improvements in Bolivian mining will eventually make child labor unprofitable and therefore obsolete. The 12 and 14 year-old boys go to school in hopes that they can get safer and better-paying jobs when they are older. They wear uniforms that their mother can barely afford. As a professional educator, I am struck by the respect for education and its contrast with the often superficial attitudes of American parents and children towards the schooling process.

Both children and adults in this area believe that, whereas God rules the world above ground, the Tio (Satan) rules the underworld. In order to avoid tragedies and to be granted access to good veins of silver, the miners must pay homage to the devil by praying to him, lighting candles to him, and offering him gifts of tobacco, alcohol, etc. The boys explain the origins of this devil-worship: When Spanish colonists forced Indians to work in the mines, the latter sometimes rebelled. So, to instill fear, the colonists told the Indians that if they balked at working, the devil would punish them. A local priest explains how he tries to combat this old superstition.

Description of The Devil's Miner

Directed by long-time collaborators Kief Davidson and Richard Ladkani, THE DEVIL'S MINER is a moving portrait of two brothers--14-year-old Basilio and 12-year-old Bernardino--who work deep inside the Cerro Rico silver mines of Bolivia. Through the children's eyes, we encounter the world of devout Catholic miners who sever their ties with God upon entering the mountain, where it is an ancient belief that the devil, as represented by statues constructed in the tunnels, determines the fate of all who work within the mines, which date back to the sixteenth century.

As we come to know the brothers, we learn their fears and hopes for their future, and occasionally glimpse their childlike souls peeking through their stoic faces. Raised without a father, Basilio must work to support their family and to go to school and study, so that he and his family can one day leave the mines. Working 24 hour shifts, eating cocoa leaves to ward off hunger and drowsiness, Basilio then walks to the city to attend a school, where he is ostracized because he is a working miner. Yet, through it all, Basilio and his family retain a dignity and courage that is inspiring.

The filmmakers bring alive the depths of this mining community and the beauty of the many customs and traditions of the mining town filled with superstition. Each day as they enter the shafts, the Catholic miners bring offerings to carved statues called "Tio", the devil who determines the fate of all who work there. They stage large-scale rituals and sacrifices at the entrance to the mine, and carnivals where they parade through the streets. All of this is their effort to appease the "mountain that eats men alive" where millions of men have died in accidents and of disease and the life expectancy of workers is only 35-40 years old.

A prime example of how social issue films can make a difference, THE DEVIL'S MINER has brought attention to this situation and has encouraged educational and community programs in the US, Europe and Bolivia that are helping to get children out of the mines and into schools.

Basilio Vargas is a veteran mine worker. He's been employed by La Cumbre silver mine for four years. It's one of hundreds in Bolivia's Cerro Rico, known locally as "the mountain that eats men." Basilio is 14. He's often joined by 12-year-old brother Bernardino. It isn't unusual for the boys to work 12-hour shifts--even double shifts of 24 hours. His father died when he was two and Basilio is the primary breadwinner (his younger sister even calls him "papa"). Outside the mine, Basilio is Catholic. Inside, however, he puts his faith in the Devil, AKA "Tio." Basilio, boss Saturnino, and the other miners believe Tio controls their fate. Basilio's dream is to earn enough money to get an education and to leave the mines for good. Directed by Kief Davidson and Richard Ladkani and narrated by the subject himself, The Devil's Miner doesn't look at child labor from several points of view, but almost exclusively from that of the child. While it may lack context, the film brings Basilio's world--both above and below ground--into stark relief. He's a well-spoken guide. Basilio is also a realist who knows what will happen if he doesn't escape: he'll be dead by 40 from lung disease or a mine collapse, just like an estimated eight million Cerro Rico workers before him. As Saturnino says about his young charges, "It's an incredible sadness." He would know--Saturnino was once a kid just like Basilio. --Kathleen C. Fennessy

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