Documentary Wednesday - "The Devil's Miner"

    Every day in Bolivia, atop the highest city in the world, Potosi, over 800 children rise each morning and set off to work in the Bolivian silver mines.  They don't have Fruit Loops or morning cartoons or Pop-Tarts.  They are lucky to have heat in their houses.  At nearly 14,000 feet, Potosi is a rural mining village set in the backdrop of the Cerro Rico, a mountain known for large veins of silver.  "The Mountain That Eats Men", as the natives say, employs one such child, named Basilio Vargas.  He is 14 years old.  He had been working in the silver mines of Cerro Rico for almost two years when documentary filmmaker and writer Kief Davidson, as well as his camera crew, decided to make a movie about his daily life.  The Devil's Miner is a quality film about children thrust into adult roles full of danger and drudgery, and how they, while still being children, are able to dream, laugh, and live under such precarious conditions.   
    The historical significance of the silver mines of Potosi is tactfully and succinctly highlighted in the film without overshadowing the story of Basilio and his family.  The Spanish conquerors of Bolivia transported the silver back to Spain during the expansion of the New World Empire in South and Central America.  To a young kid like Basilio, however, the silver mining of the Cerro Rico is just work.  Being the oldest boy in the family and having lost his father years before, he has become the head of the household, and has a father-like protective nature over his little siblings and his mother, a basket weaver.  The relationships Basilio has with others around his is sweet and extraordinary.  Basilio's bosses in the silver mines are not exploitative or abusive; they are mentors to Basilio and his younger brother, especially in matters of safety.  Every day, the miners pray to God outside of the mine below a cross, begging for safety and provision.  But once inside the mine, they believe they are in the Devil's quarters - and they bow and pray to "El Tio", a statue with horns, represented to be the Devil.  Basilio teaches his younger brother to not be afraid of Tio, and to ask him for help in staying alive while occupied with such dangerous work.  
     What's so interesting about this documentary is that it never got a wide release, and probably wouldn't be as well known in smaller circuits as it is today unless it wasn't on Netflix.  The material is stunning and important, and the way that Davidson films and portrays the people is justified and true, not condemning nor pretentious.  This is a documentary about kids that hasn't tugged at my heart strings so hard since I saw Which Way Home last year, about illegal immigration through Central America and Mexico.  Great movie and a great documentary.