Even The Rain

• Allan Hunter
• 18 May 2012

Well-intentioned, if heavy-handed, political drama from writer Paul Laverty

The sting of injustice and oppression echoes down the centuries in Even The Rain, an ambitious, well-intentioned political drama from writer Paul Laverty and his partner, director Iciar Bolain.

Inspired by true events, the film is set in Cochabamba, Bolivia in 2000 where sanctimonious film director Sebastian (a bland Gael Garcia Bernal) arrives to create his epic on the life of Christopher Columbus. Sebastian's film has the feel of some inspired folly that Herzog or Terrence Malick might have directed. He is so focused on the events of five hundred years ago that he is blind to the way that history is being repeated. He fails to appreciate the irony in paying the local population a mere $2 a day and ignores the multinational company buying the water supplies - "even the rain that falls upon us".

Even The Rain is obvious and heavy handed in pointing out the never changing struggles between the haves and have-nots but there are still some touching moments and strong performances to make it worthwhile, notably from Luis Tosar as pragmatic producer Costa and Juan Carlus Aduviri as Bolivian activist Daniel.