Saturday, November 21, 2009

Pino, Pino, Pino

Yesterday, I managed to catch a documentary by Fernando "Pino" Solanas, who is like an Argentine version of Michael Moore and Howard Dean rolled into one. He has uniquely used his political positions (senator, deputy of Buenos Aires) to gain access to corrupt Argentine politicians and businessmen.

He got his start as an original Peronist, helping make films for ousted Prez, Juan Peron while both were in exile in Spain. Upon returning to Argentina, he became an outspoken critic of President Menem and a day after denouncing him publicly, was attacked and shot 6 times. This helped launch his political career, even running for President after founding his own political party. Though currently the National Deputy for the City of Buenos Aires, he's continuing to make movies.

His latest documentary that I caught called "Oro Impuro" (impure gold) and was about the environmental, economic and social ills of the Argentine mining industry. The movie was fairly well done; he does have the "Galeano"-type world view but manages to avoid the preachy overtones prevalent in Michael Moore Films. Here's one of the only works of his I could find with english subtitles: "Hour of the Furnace" from 1968. Lots of animal gore and marxism, just to let you know.

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