Eldorado XXI, Salomé Lamas, Portugal-France, 2016, 125’, OV with Spanish subtitles , DCP.
Let’s start with the legend: according to those who chronicled the conquest of America, in some remote part of The Altiplano, an indigenous king would daub his body in gold dust as an offering in a sacred pond. That legendary kingdom, which literally sat on gold, came to be known as El Dorado, and its name and the search for it in maps and various territories became something mythical. Portuguese director Salomé Lamas adds a number – the XXI century – to this much coveted place, as if to add further fuel to the continued existence today of the legend of the city of gold. And that place does exist; yes indeed: La Rinconada, in the Peruvian Andes, sits on gold mines and is the highest city in the world – 5000 metres above sea level – and life and work conditions there are extremely harsh. It is a place people continue to go to in search of the golden promise of a better life.
A year ago we invited Salomé Lamas to our season, OhPortugal!, where he presented Terra de Ninguem (2102), a documentary portrait of a Portuguese hitman. We also had the opportunity to see her shorts in Horma, so we knew the minute her new film was out it would be premiered on our screen. Salomé arrives in the Andes and starts showing the spectacular landscapes she encounters. That’s when the questions arise: How does one portray a territory? How does one delve into its landscapes and people? How to make a film from that? Lamas attempts a double documentary approach, as if one angle weren’t enough to achieve her objective as a filmmaker: on the one hand, radical camera work, observation, allowing time to hover over the workers, male and female, as they come and go from the mines. On the other: a more anthropologic portrait of its people, its music, its dances and rituals. Salomé Lamas therefore continues to pose questions to herself about limits: human, geographic, cinematographic.
Portuguese director Salomé Lamas adds a number – the XXI century – to this much coveted place, as if to add further fuel to the continued existence today of the legend of the city of gold.