The next cultural awareness film, Cocalero, will be shown by the Williams Lake Film Club this Saturday, Feb. 5, at the Gibraltar Room.
Enter from the back door which opens at 1:30 p.m. for the show starting at 2 p.m. Admission is $5 for everyone so that families will be able to come to this film together. Our Saturday films are always a great source for discussion around the supper table.
The name Cocalero means “coca leaf grower” and it is a documentary about Evo Morales during his run for presidency.
The war on drugs by the United States at that time was mostly directed against the coca leaf growers of Bolivia.
The national government of Bolivia supported this war and in doing so destroyed the means of subsistence for many of the “Indigenas,” the indigenous people of Bolivia.
In answer, the farmers banded together and under the leadership of an Aymara-Indian, Evo Morales, they started a fight for governmental power in 2005.
Cocalero documents the relationship between geo-politics and the uprising of people, the culture of the indigenous people, and the impressive determination of Evo Morales.
Alejandro Landes follows the election campaign of the future president. He has direct and personal contact with the candidate and his supporters. What is truly fascinating about this is the fact that Evo Morales does not seem to be a political candidate as we know them.
He is a relaxed bachelor in his 40s, wears jeans and sneakers, lives in a small house, drinks beer with his buddies, and goes swimming with them in his underwear. However, he is intelligent and charismatic to seemingly effortlessly go from that to fund raisers to mass meetings, in which he describes the redirection of wealth, the re-nationalization of industry as well as legalization of coca products.
No wonder that Morales’ political platform meets with strong resistance from the groups in power. It is even more fascinating how this “Defender of Bolivia’s Indigenous People” wins with a huge majority never seen before.
Cocalero grants you some fresh insights into a historical moment that brought unprecedented change.
See you Saturday.