Under Rich Earth

While it’s entirely possible that Under Rich Earth might’ve made for a decent segment on 60 Minutes, there’s simply no getting around the increasingly pervasive feeling that the film’s subject matter just isn’t compelling enough to sustain a full-length feature. Director Malcolm Rogge, in an effort to explore the conflict between Ecuadorian sugarcane farmers and the mining project that threatens to evict them from their homes, has infused the proceedings with an exceedingly dry sensibility that eventually proves oppressive, and it’s subsequently impossible to work up any sympathy for the plight of the movie’s downtrodden protagonists. Rogge’s one-sided modus operandi inevitably forces the viewer to question the veracity of the film’s various claims, as the filmmaker consistently goes out of his way to make the folks from the mining project look like the sort of villainous, soulless land developers one might expect to find in a cheesy 1980s actioner. There’s little doubt that Rogge’s increasingly desperate and downright frantic efforts at filling the 92-minute running time (eg an absolutely interminable sequence in which the locals seemingly question each and every person attempting to come into their community) will test the patience of even the most sympathetic viewer, and it’s ultimately clear that Under Rich Earth has been designed to appeal solely to those intimately familiar with the dire situation.

1/2* out of ****