Even the Rain

Even the Rain (También la lluvia, 2011) is a Spanish drama directed by Icíar Bollaín — watch it online on iFILM. Luis Tosar and Gael García Bernal play a producer and director who arrive in Cochabamba, Bolivia, to shoot an ambitious film about Christopher Columbus. They've cast local people as extras. They couldn't have picked a worse moment.

While their cameras roll on sixteenth-century conquistadors, the city outside erupts. Residents are fighting back against the transfer of the water supply to a private multinational — monthly fees have jumped beyond what most families earn. Daniel, one of the key extras, is right at the front of those protests. The crew's schedule starts falling apart, and so does any easy sense of who the real colonizers are.

Bollaín layers two stories of exploitation across five centuries without flattening either into a metaphor. The film is uncomfortable in exactly the right way: the camera keeps catching people who want to do good and keep choosing convenience instead. Stream Even the Rain (2011) online on iFILM.