Mike Plunkett's SALERO: all about Bolivia, its wondrous salt plain and the man who works it

What is it about salt -- well, we need it to survive, of course -- that also makes it such a humdinger of a subject for the documentary filmmaker? I am thinking, first, of Margot Benacerraf's Araya -- made some 57 years ago, but only able to be seen as it should be in its debut via Milestone Films in 2009 -- with its utterly breathtaking black-and-white cinematography and tale of the families who worked the salt flats of Venezuela a half-century ago. That film now has a kind of fascinating companion piece, a documentary called SALERO by filmmaker Mike Plunkett, that uses color cinematography of a salt flat in Bolivia very nearly as well, while telling the story of one of the last salt workers, the salero of the title, and his splintering family.

Mr. Plunkett (shown at right), I am guessing, must be familiar with Araya, for these two films have much in common, despite the 50-odd years of space between them. What a stroke of fortune brought the filmmaker together with his subject, Moises (below), the fellow whose family, down generations since his great-grandfather's time, has worked the salt flat for sustenance. Moises calls the flat "the most peaceful place on earth," and you'll find it hard to disagree with him once you've experienced it. His immediate family, however -- particularly his wife, Nelvi -- disagrees. She wants more: money, an urban life in Chile and ever a career of her own.

Further, the Bolivian government, under the direction of its leader, Evo Morales (whom we see and hear speak), is determined to join the 21st Century and so begins mining for lithium beneath the salt flat where Moises labors. While this will be good for the greater Bolivia (and we hope not too bad to the environment at large), it will greatly impact Moises, his labor, and his family.

Salero makes crystal clear the deep love and connection Moises has with his salt -- even when, as is now happening, the price of that salt descends into practically an unlivable depth. Still, the salero perseveres, creating a new way to harvest -- more quickly and more of -- that salt.

We see the little town of Colchani and meet a few of its people and even visit the larger and more thriving desert metropolis of Uyuni (far too big and impersonal to suit Moises). Along the way we watch and listen to Moises' interactions with his children, the most interesting and moving of which involves a morality tale of a board, hammer and nails, the hammering in and then removing of those nails becomes a metaphor for good and bad actions and their results.

We get some history along the way -- of Spain and Colonialism -- and we're happy to see Bolivia rising from near-third-world status into modernity. But everything has its price. For Moises, the price is so high as to make us wonder what is to become of him. Simultaneously heartbreaking and joyous, Salero puts us dead center into that thing we like to call "progress," then leaves us to sort it all out.

From Cinereach and running only 76 minutes, the movie will screen this weekend -- on Saturday, October 15, at 5:30 pm, as part of the annual Margaret Mead Film Festival at the American Museum of Natural History in New York City. Click here for more information and/or to purchase tickets. Where else can the film be seen? Well, Cinema Guild has the educational rights, so we are hoping that Salero will eventually get a VOD/home video release. I'll try to keep you updated as things progress....

DVDebut & dance-buff's delight: NEVER STAND STILL--Dancing at Jacob's Pillow

A don't-miss for dance enthusiasts and in some ways an even better film than Wim Wenders' wonderful Pina (and a good deal better than the recent dance competition thriller First Position), NEVER STAND STILL: Dancing at Jacob's Pillow proves a worthy addition to the canon of fine films about dance. Narrated by Bill T. Jones (though in truth there is very little narration), the documentary is comprised of a wide variety of smart, enthusiastic talking heads and an absolute cornucopia of terrific (and relatively lengthy, for a change) slices of actual dance from various companies both modern and classical. And all there at Jacob's Pillow.

Directed by Ron Honsa (shown at right, with Marge Champion, another ex-dancer of note, and now dance-champion in ways other than her name, who also appears in the film), the movie offers a wonderful smorgasbord of ballet, jazz-inflected, and contemporary dance via dancers and their companies from all over the world. There's even one terrific number reflecting social dance as performance art from the Mimulus Dance Company of Brazil (the photo below is by Guto Muniz). Beautifully photographed by newcomer Jimmy O'Donnell and vet Etienne Sauret and edited with joy and precision by another newcomer Charles Yurick, the film is able to capture these varied performers and styles remarkably well, giving us a real treasure of a view of what's going on in modern dance now, along with a look at the current and aging masters of the form.

We also get some nice historical footage of our country's ground-breakers in this field, including Ruth St. Denis and Ted Shawn -- the man who began Jacob's Pillow as kind of dance school, retreat and theater, all of which it has remained, while flourishing and growing with our changing times. (The photo below is of his famous Men Dancers, performing Kenetic Molpai.)

Although the documentary moves quickly (it lasts barely 75 minutes), the filmmakers enable us to truly get a sense of the art and style of each performer and/or troupe they capture via the direction, cinematography and editing. In this sense, it's an appetizer whetting our palate for more from each of the performers -- which include everyone from Rasta Thomas and his Bad Boys of Dance to The Suzanne Farrell Ballet (shown below), Mark Morris, Joanna Haigood, The Royal Danish Ballet, Judith Jamison, along with several others.

Another pleasure of the film is hearing various choreographers -- Merce Cunningham, for instance -- discuss their work, what they love and what they go after in their dances. We also, again, see enough of that work to actually understand and appreciate it. One of the highlights here is Paul Taylor, talking about then and now, as we watch his splendid company perform.

Never Stand Still is a gift for dance aficionados; if you count yourself among them, see it. Distributed by First Run Features, the DVD hits the streets this Tuesday, July 17, for sale, rental and probably, semi-soon, streaming, too.

See Brent Leung's HOUSE OF NUMBERS; ignore the fundamentalist backlash

When HOUSE OF NUMBERS -- Brent Leung's excellent documentary about AIDS and HIV -- opened for a week's run last year, it was savaged in a particu-
larly nasty review in The New York Times.  When, last September, Trust
Movies read that review, he immedi-
ately concluded that the film was not worth his time.  Big mistake.  He should have read between the lines.  Because Mr. Leung (shown below) questions the "received wisdom" and the medical/political establishment party-line on AIDS and HIV, the Times reviewer (as well as another in the British medical journal Lancet only this month), suggests that Mr. Leung will next turn his attention to questioning the existence of gravity.

To begin with, any scientist (or even a well-informed layman) who imagines that the law of gravity and what is known about AIDS are remotely comparable in quality or quantity should turn in his degree or give up his day job (and perhaps become a Times reviewer!).  Both reviews also claim that House of Numbers is a forum for AIDS "denialists."  I do not think so.  The documentary never denies the existence of AIDS or HIV. But it questions -- and question hard -- various held-as-gospel concepts about HIV and AIDS.

What is the diagnosis for having AIDS, and what symptoms does this diagnosis include?  Don't ask.  Or if you do, be sure to note what country you're visiting at the time. (Funny that neither of the above nasty reviews tackle this question -- or cogently address any of Leung's primary points.) Diagnoses have changed so over time and over country that this becomes one of Leung's major problems with how AIDS and HIV are perceived.  AIDS testing is another.  The filmmaker goes to South Africa, takes an AIDS test from a sweet young woman who should probably not be giving the test, or at least should be offering better information, and while in that ex-Apartheid place, looks into the major poverty there and wonders, as do many South Africans, some of whom we hear from (see below), that perhaps there is some mixing-up going on between AIDS diagnoses and immune systems racked by malnutrition and disease.

Leung does not insist that one condition equals the other -- something that both the Lancet and Times reviews above say he does; the Lancet review also says that House of Numbers claims that there is no connection between HIV and AIDS. It does not.  Instead it offers up the possibility of co-factors -- a damaged immune system due to poverty or drug use (doctor-prescribed or recreational). Yet neither review mentions the co-factor theory (which has been around for some time now.)

Approaching 70, TrustMovies predates the AIDS epidemic.  He saw it happen here in New York City and has seen numerous friends, acquain-
tances, sexual encounters and one full-time lover fall to the disease.  He's followed the ins-and-out of the official story and has from time to time questioned it -- as have many others who some-
times have had problems accepting what the medical establishment and drug companies are telling us.  This does not make us AIDS denialists, but we do believe that there is much more to the story that is being told. And we wonder, as does Mr. Leung and some of his interviewees (one of  which is shown above), why so little funding is given over to any theories other than those of the toe-the-line establishment?  Instead, money and research goes to prop up what seems like a faulty-from-the-start theory, full of holes, and to the drug companies, which keep pumping out a lifetime of drug therapies to those infected.

However, TrustMovies is no scientist.  So he asked an acquaintance and occasional web reviewer who is a science writer for some corroboration. Anthony Liversidge, above, founder and managing editor of Science Guardian, was happy to give it  Liversidge has also been following the AIDS/HIV story for decades and says that House of Numbers get its facts right and is, in his opinion, a trustworthy documentary.  (In fact, Liversidge covered the film
long before I did.)

I have now seen the documentary twice -- and could easily sit through it another time or two, so dense is it with information and statistics, not to mention interviews with a number of establishment and anti-establishment figures, all of whom answer Leung's questions and often dig themselves deeper and deeper into the muck. (Little wonder a number of these people are up in arms about the film; it does not make them look good.)  Leung paces his film well, and threads along his main story the smaller stories of several individuals worth hearing.  There are man-in-the-street interviews, as well those with the big boys (and girls).  It all adds up to 90 thought-provoking minutes.

My biggest question after viewing House of Numbers is why there is such an enormous backlash against it.  Were it as "wrong" as its opponents claim, they could easily contest it on a point by point basis; instead they simply keep trying to stop it wholesale -- as though it has no right to be seen and heard.  I have spoken with director Leung several times now and learned that, at screenings, groups and individuals are often lined up shouting against the movie.  Journalists originally disposed favorably toward the film post-viewing, suddenly come out against it after "a good talking to." This strikes me as censorship, which has no place in real science -- although throughout history, it is always present.

House of Numbers hints at a conspiracy between medical establishment and drug companies.  God knows there has been enough conflict-of-interest scandals in that department over the years -- from doctors hawking cigarettes in ads and TV commercials way-back-when to the more recent examples.  Celia Farber did some fine investigative reporting for Harpers some time back on the subject of AIDS drugs, and more recently in New York magazine, David France reports on what the AIDS cocktail concoction is doing to AIDS sufferers now.  AIDS drugs have always been dangerous:  AZT was toxic-unto-death; the latest batch remains toxic enough to noticeably shorten the life span and productivity of its users.

Regarding the possibility of mistaking (deliberately or otherwise) African (South and otherwise) poverty symptoms for AIDS -- as Leung and others continue to suggest --  this seems quite a legiti-
mate question.  So far as the gay community and a suppressed immune system are concerned, this connection has been on our minds since AIDS made its nasty debut in the early 1980s. Its appearance came at a time when many gay men were doing drugs that we now know suppress the immune system.  But rather than owning up and then investigating this at the time, the connection was played down so that gays' "lifestyle" could not be blamed for acquiring AIDS.  Yes, of course, there was and is enough homopho-
bia out there already, so one can understand gay leaders' reluct-
ance to admit to possible lifestyle consequences.   But, hello -- what if?  Suppressing the truth eventually comes back to bite you in the ass; by now it's little wonder so many gay posteriors are a bit raw.

From the very start AIDS research smacked of trouble.  American claims to have discovered the HIV virus were almost immediately countered by those in France (that's Luc Montagnier, above).  While the prize eventually went to both scientists/countries, suspicions were never really put to rest.  Since then so many questions have arisen regarding the virus and the disease -- its source, diagnosis, even the very existence of the virus, that -- instead of truly answering questions and looking further for missing information, the establishment instead decided to stonewall, and has continued this stance ever since -- calling the questioners everything from crazy to murderous because "denialism kills" (that's the Lancet).  I think it's time to call out the real denialists: doctors, researchers, drug companies and politicians who are unable and/or unwilling to allow dissent and questioning -- and the shrieking banshees at screenings who want to keep this film from being seen and discussed.  These are the kind of tactics indulged in by our former political administration, are they not?  Power closing rank and discrediting all disagreement.  I'm not even saying that House of Numbers is right about everything.  But it absolutely needs to be seen and argued about.  It's not the best documentary of the year by a long shot -- but it may be the most important.  

Your next chance to see the film begins this Friday, January 22, when it be screened in Portland, Oregon, at the Regal Fox Tower Stadium Ten.  Take that chance, if you're in the area. Check the film's web site for further screenings, and look for a DVD to be released later in the year.