Review by Eric Hillis
Directed by: Juan Carlos Valdivia
Starring: Ninón del Castillo, Pascual Loayza, Nicolás Fernández
An Englishman's home is his castle, goes the saying. It would seem the same can be said of a Bolivian woman, in this case Carola (del Castillo), the matriarch of an upper class family in La Paz. At least they once were upper class. Carola is living on credit and can't accept that due to recent political and social upheavals, she's now got less money to her name than many of Bolivia's indigenous Aymara people, who she's been raised to feel superior to.
When movies tackle the issue of prejudice and bigotry, it's rarely subtle. In Carola, writer-director Juan Carlos Valdivia presents us with a protagonist who is institutionally racist, classist and homophobic, but she's never portrayed as a cartoon villain, and indeed, we find ourselves sympathising with her plight, as she's essentially not a bad person, merely a product of an ignorant society. It's difficult for us to admit, but a very large section of those over the age of 50 today, in any part of the world, hold similar institutionalised prejudices.
There's a scene towards the end of the movie when Carola discovers Wilson has been using the family bathroom rather than the one in his own room. She reacts with disgust in a heartbreaking moment that says more about bigotry in a few seconds than the awful Oscar winner Crash did in its entire two hours.
I'm ashamed to admit that five minutes into Southern District I feared it would be a struggle. The almost soap opera-esque video aesthetic takes a while to get used, and Valdivia's constantly roaming camera at first seemed gimmicky. Two hours later I was disappointed when the movie ended, as I wanted to spend more time with these characters, and the camerawork made sense, circling the movie's characters like vultures waiting for their prey to finally cease breathing, a wonderful visual metaphor for Carola's plight.
