Globalisation and Coloniality of Power in También la lluvia / Even the Rain (2010): Exploring Resistance and Indigenous Empowerment

Suarez, Marta F and Herrero, Carmen ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1392-4224 (2020) Globalisation and Coloniality of Power in También la lluvia / Even the Rain (2010): Exploring Resistance and Indigenous Empowerment. Ottawa Hispanic Studies, 28. pp. 133-154. ISSN 2561-8180

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Abstract

This article analyses indigenous practices of resistance and empowerment in the face of neo-imperialism in Icíar Bollaín’s film También la lluvia / Even the Rain (2010). The film is set in Bolivia during the Water Wars of 1999, when the privatisation of water resulted in violent demonstrations. In the narrative, a transnational film crew arrives in Cochabamba to shoot a film about the violent colonisation of the Americas. This dialogue between what the historical film denounces and what the wider film narrative exposes highlights the unequal distribution of power, income and wealth in contemporary Bolivia. A third filmic experience, a behind-the-scenes documentary, comments on film practices and how cinema is constrained by the financial and creative markets in which it operates. The relationships between the three films problematise truth, authenticity and history. Using Anibal Quijano’s notion of coloniality of power and Manuel Castells, Saskia Sassen and Zygmunt Bauman’s work on globalisation and human value, this paper investigates how notions of colonialism, coloniality and neo-imperialism are configured within the film. It analyses how the indigenous characters respond to oppression and coloniality through acts of resistance. It also explores thematic elements and notions linked to activism and empowerment which inform a discussion on empathy, nurture and nature.