Zona sur (2009)

	Also Known As: Southern district
	Year of first release: 2009
	Director: Juan Carlos Valdivia
	Actors: Ninón del Castillo, Pascual Loayza, Nicolás Fernández
	Country: BOL
	Genre: Drama
	Conditions of visioning: 07.09.2014, DVD
Synopsis: In La Paz, Bolivia, the classes are split in different areas of the city. The southern district is for the rich white people. The indios are servants or bring the market at home. But in modern Bolivia times are changing.
Review: I wanted to watch this movie to get in the mood of the upcoming Film Festival of San Sebastian showing a section with Hispanic movies. As Bolivia does not make many movies and being half Bolivian, I was even more curious when I saw this in the video store. The story of the end of the times when to be rich in Bolivia you had to be white is attractive. The racism and the machism are shown as latent values of the Bolivian society. I liked the way to present the decadent life (via the older brother) and the spirit of classes in this white family, especially the mother (del Castillo) and surprisingly also in the two servants, especially Wilson (Loayza). The fact that times change and that the indios have also money is coming more in the second half of the movie, but so unexplained and unintroduced that for European minds full of stereotypes this would associate the change in the Bolivian society as a consequence of the drugs economy. Other interesting topic approached is the feminism being nowadays a very hot potatoe in a still machist Bolivia. This movie is really showing the social evolution initiated in 2006 by the indio president of Bolivia, Evo Morales, even if he is never mentioned.  I loved the photography and also the amazing control on the camera, especially when the kid (Fernández) is on the roof of the house. This gives the impression of observing lives with distance and sometimes as if people had special powers. I liked this aspect and would have done even more in this direction. But this might be another movie.
Rating: 7 /10