"El Rumor de las Piedras" : what proper representation of the poor looks like

This past Wednesday I was lucky enough to attend a screening of a Venezuelan drama film called "El Rumor de las Piedras" (The Rumble of the Stones) at Florida International University, that was followed up by a Q&A panel session with the director, assistant director and two producers. It was all part of a program set up by the Latin American/Caribbean studies department of the university, and all the films they were screening had to do with the struggle of women in Latin American society. Needless to say, it was extremely interesting, especially being able to have a discussion with the filmmakers themselves after for reflection.

This particular movie is essentially about a woman called Delia, who lives in the slums in Venezuela, and how she tries her best to prevent her two teenage sons from falling into violent/illegal gang activity, how she works multiple jobs, and how she does this all alone, there is no "man" in this house. Being a woman anywhere in the world is already difficult, but if there is anything harder than existing as a female in this life, it is being a female living in extreme poverty. Nearly all of the problems in her life and those around her, be it her sons or the people in her community, stem from the financial troubles in their lives.

I really enjoyed this movie because it gave proper representation to the poor. This film did an excellent job at creating and establishing low income earning characters that were multifaceted. Of course, falling into gang violence, stealing, substance abuse issues are all undesirable effects of extreme poverty, but the film was effective in contextualizing these characters so that the audience did not merely see them as lazy, drunken parasites. Moreover, the movie delved into possible reasons why Delia and her family fell into poverty, specifically in her case, the 1998 landslide that swallowed up entire homes and left thousands of people in Venezuela without any assets overnight.

This is what proper representation of the poor looks like, and I think it testifies to the idea that fiction film can be interesting and cinematic while also being impactful in changing the way the poor are portrayed in media. It does not mean that those living in poverty should be written as characters that are either overwhelmingly good or bad people, rather, they should represented as the complex individuals that they are. Below I am linking the trailer for the film.


SOURCES: "Furzan, F. (2011, March 1). Movie review: El rumor de las piedras."