User Score
5 votes
Devil Gold is director José Novoa's third collaboration with producer Elia Schneider, and like the previous two films, Huelepega (or Glue Sniffer, which Schneider directed in 2000) and Sicario (1994), the film is a thriller-melodrama that focuses on a real-life problem plaguing Venezuela, with an emphasis on how the conditions affect children. Thus, after a few titles explaining the impact that gold mining has had on the country's Amazon region, along with helicopter footage (later to be blended into the narrative) of the ecologically devastated area, the film settles in on the lawless shanty town of Payapal for its narrative. Gallego (Armando Gota) runs the mine, exploiting his cheap labor force. Aroldo (Pedro Lander) breaks into Gallego's safe and steals his gold, along with a good deal of gold that Gallego was holding for his workers. Aroldo involves the unwitting Carmen (Jenny Noguera) in the robbery, and, when they are discovered, he shoots and kills Gallego's young son.
Director
Writer
Status
Released
Original Language
ES
Isabel
"Behind every strong man is a strong woman!", Mumine shouts as her husband is arrested. She has 4 children, she's in her mid-30s, and she's the wife of a Crimean Tatar political prisoner. Muslim Crimean Tatars have been oppressed for a long time. They were deported under Stalin, allowed to return under Gorbachev, and since the occupation of Crimea in 2014 under Putin, they are being persecuted again. "Return" is a portrait of Mumine and Maye, two strong women struggling with the consequences of oppression. Their traditional understanding of their role as women does not stand in the way of their dedication. They possess strength, beauty and dignity. Only in their most intimate moments, they are overwhelmed by desperate helplessness.
