caroline la lluvia

8/3/2019 Caroline La Lluvia

1/14

Diario de la

empataOtra manera de abordar TAMBIN LA LLUVIA

Los alumnos y alumnas del IE Caada Blanch de Londres escriben su

diario ponindose en el lugar detras ver la pelcula de Iciar Bollan de

Tambin la LLuvia

Profesora: Caroline Money


2/14

12

1ST DAY

I realised from the plane window that the Spanish landscape was similar to that

of Bolivia. We were travelling in a private jet from Madrid to La Paz. Once in the

capitals airport (which personally I found horrific) we headed to Cochabamba,

the third largest city in Bolivia. We travelled from La Paz to this place in three

large, black SUVs that looked like small limousines. I was in the second one, in

between the first and third one and felt like I was someone very important. Now I

know how the president feels. I sat beside my friend Costa. We have known each

other for years and have many things in common. I wonder why hes bald

We had a long conversation with the rest of the crew in the SUV. We discussed

many topics related to the country where we were going to film. We talked about

politics, religion, culture, economics, etc. While we talked, Maria was taping us

with her massive camera that looks like its from the last century! I had a great

time with everyone: Jorge did not stop making jokes which were extremely funny

(but, unfortunately, racist); Alvaro was reading out his lines, Maria continued

taping and Costa had a smile on his face all the time because he was saving lots

of money by just paying $2 per indigenous actor. I found it quite unfair but

I looked outside sometimes and saw poor dirty streets. We were passing through

the suburbs of La Paz. Then the view changed, no more urban landscape, just

countryside.

We finally reached Cochabamba, it was night now and everything was dark. The

streets were deserted and silent. Jorge, as always, wanted to catch everyones

attention and screamed Hello Cochabamba!! when he jumped out the SUV. I

think, well, he is a hyperactive person. Still, hes a good friend and comedian.

Believe me; you will never get bored with him, never.

The hotel wasnt bad; actually, it was good. I dont remember how many stars it

had. Everyone there was very polite and was always ready to help. We had a

Spanish dinner with Croquetas and Marisco and other delicious Spanish dishes

that the chef had prepared as a way of saying Welcome, make yourself at

home!


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I was tired, in fact, we were all tired! It had been a long day. When I opened the

door of my room the first thing I spotted was that huge, tidy bed. I had

hallucinations of it saying: Come here, baby

2nd DAY

Costa woke me up by shouting that we were going to be late. I had breakfast, I

did not care about what I was eating and my eyes were practically closed. I dont

remember anything more of that morning. As I said, I was more asleep than

awake. The SUV driver drove us to a type of warehouse. In front of which was a

queue of what seemed to be indigenous people. They wore strange, tiny hats

and colourful clothes. They did not seem very happy. I suddenly rememberedthat they were there for the casting auditions. Happily, they really look

indigenous! My film is going to be a success! I thought looking at them. We got

out of the SUV. The queue was incredibly long. My happy face disappeared. We

needed extras, but not so many

We decided to just keep a few of them. When my friend shouted this message

all the people started complaining I felt sorry for them but we couldnt audition

that entire queue. Some of them said that they had travelled miles to come to

the auditions. I really felt sorry for them.

A young man complained very loudly, so that when he started speaking,

everyone was quiet. Who is this person, who does he think he is? I wondered.

After complaining to the crew and I agreed to take a look at every person in

the line. His speech touched our hearts. For one moment, I admired him, the

young man who had complained. He was so brave! It turns out hes called

Daniel- hes the one who demanded that everyone got an audition. His face was

very indigenous and had a very special look. We did not think it twice. He had to

be one of the main characters. I am content; my film really will be a success!

7th DAY

We told him not to go. We made a mistake choosing him as one of the main

characters. We tried to convince him that he would ruin our film. What did he

do? He didnt give a shit! We saw him on the television, but not in Who wants

to be a Millionaire? He was on a damned news channel! He was there, shouting

for justice. I understood him and all that stuff but it was not what he was doing

that got me so F****** angry. What hes doing is driving our film directly to


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failure! Get out of there! We need you in one piece! What are you waiting for? I

thought about shouting at Daniel. What an idiot! I imagined speaking to him:

Look Daniel, I know it is difficult for indigenous people here but, please, just let

us finish our film. WE NEED YOU! It was useless, he would never hear me. I

regretted hiring him.

Staring at the screen and watching poor Daniel fighting against the police made

a tear drop from my eye. I mean, I would be doing the same just if I didnt have

to handle with one of the main characters of a film. I understood and

misunderstood Daniel at the same time. But my film! What will I do?

Costa told me that he was going to give Daniel some money in exchange for not

seeing his face again on TV. I thanked him. All hopes are not lost yet

Camilo Caaveral Alzate 3 ESO A 16.10.2011

12th of October, 2000.

Today I was hired to act in a film! Yes, yes, yes!!!!! Out of more than 200 men

and women, I was one of the lucky few to be chosen. Thanks to my

overwhelming talent!

What am I talking about? The truth is I got recruited by sheer luck. How can I and

Indigenous man have talent? Absurd! To be frank, I was selected randomly. In

fact, I feel terrible for all of those who come for the auditions however they

could, even if it meant spending all their money on transport.

As we are low-class citizens, the film crew obviously did not audition each one of

us but selected us randomly while in the queue.

Ahhh. How I or should I saw we, long to have our rights respected. Oh well.

Daniel Miles keep your head up and be positive. Hopefully, some day, this will all

change.

22nd of October, 2000.

Wow! It has been more than a week and I have earned $20! This is the triple of

amount of what I would be normally paid.


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They have also offered me two trucks! Can you believe it? However, I will sell

both trucks in order to earn more money as I would not have enough money for

petrol.

Although I am getting paid very well, I am beginning to realise that this

company, who has hired us thinks of us as nothing, like many people around the

world.

They have us do many gut-wrenching and difficult scenes which show the

demise of our very own kind. It seems as if these scenes are of no importance to

them. They think that because, we are Indigenous people we do not have the

right to say or do anything which contradicts them.

Daniel Miles, head up and be positive.

11th

of November, 2000.It has been one full month since I was hired. I have been paid a total of $60 in

one month.

Why do I not sound happy about this? I shall tell you why I am not happy about

this. I have been working as hard as possible and I get a measly $60 whilst a

European actor, who has a role less significant than mine, gets paid $6.000!

We are treated as scum, even in our own city. We do not have rights, we do not

have money, we do not have anything. I ask myself, was I born to only suffer?

Living, which is meant to be joyous, is an eternity of great difficulties in my eyes.

Today I asked if I could have an extra bottle of water as I was very thirsty. The

man stared into my eyes and said: you filthy being! Do not dare ask for

another bottle of water! Be grateful that you are being paid at all!

I, of course, had now found out that what they paid us was even below the

minimum wage in Spain.

Again Daniel Miles, keep your head high and become a realist.

Cesar Wang. 3ESO. 14-10-11

Day 1:


6/14

12

Today, my Father and I woke up early to go to audition

for a film. I was hoping to be chosen for a Spanish film of Christopher Columbus

history.

We were in the queue for almost five hours. The Director (Sebastian) ,the

Producer (Costa) and a girl with a camera arrived. They chose some people and

then they told us that they didn't have time for anyone else. My Father didn't

think that was fair, after having waited for such a long time. That man Sebastian,

doesn't care at all about us, he only cares about his film. People like that are just

selfish. Everybody, including my father started to complain that it was unfair. In

the end, they chose me and my Dad. I was so excited! This was like a new start, I

will be one of the indigenous girls in the film. After that, my Dad and I went home

and started to work on the water pipe from the well, it's hard work, I don't enjoy

it but i need to help my Dad.

Day 2:

I woke up and I saw that the police were trying to close our well, so that we

couldn't use them. My Father and many other people from our village have been

working on the water pipes for months. I didn't think it was fair for them to close

them. We hadn't done anything wrong. We built the pipes in our own time. The

police weren't involved, they had nothing to do with our well, all we wanted was

some water, but of course, the police didn't care what we had to say. I hate thepolice in this country, they make me furious, and they just think they can insult

us because we are not as wealthy as them.

After that happened, I went to film my scene, in which we are running away from

the Spanish people who discovered America...It was fun, even though we didn't

get paid much. I was happy with it, because I enjoyed it.

That night my Dad came home angry from the water protest. He told me that he

thought that all the police were idiots...And he also included the point that Costa

was paying us too little. I didn't say anything because Costa has been kind to


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me. I could understand what my Dad was saying and I agreed, but I didn't think it

was right for him to shout at me and my mother. My Dad was furious. He went

back to the protest, that night and then he got arrested. The film wasn't finished

so Costa paid his bail to finish shooting the film. Personally, I think Costa only got

my Dad out for his film, not to help my Dad. I'm not sure how long my Dad will

be out of prison for, but knowing the police of Cochabamba he won't be out for

long.

Day 3:

My Dad has gone to finish the film. My Mum and I are are at home. I went out to

play football with my friends. I heard about the water crisis on the radio. It

sounded terrible. I felt I should go there, so I did. I ran quickly so my Mum

wouldn't see me.

I got to the protest and it was madness. I suddenly felt as I shouldn't be there. A

friend of mine started to throw rocks at the police and he handed me a rock to

throw, At first I didn't want to throw it , but then I thought of all of the things the

police has done to my family. So I threw it. As soon as it hit the policeman, I

knew it was the wrong thing to do. He came running towards me, he was

outraged.The next thing I remember was being in costa's arms, and my leg was numb,

then i realized that Costa was actually a very kind man, he cared about me,

maybe even more even more then the film.

Liberty Perez Sanchez 14/11/2011

Day 1:


8/14

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Today was a great success. Theyve given me the part in a film and Im playing

one of the main characters. With the first pay I have bought a well, with my

family and friends so the whole neighbourhood can drink and use water again.

My daughter is playing a major part in the film as well so there will be more

money. We want to start a new life from scratch, which would be the best for

both of us.

Everybody on the film is so nice, and helpful. Although, some of them have a

bigger heart than others as I saw this right in the first minute of them getting

here, some of the crew saw the immense queue of people for the casting and

didnt want to audition us all. But other film crew members did so in the end they

gave us all auditions.

But still theyre giving lots of people the money, a job which is really good.

Day 2:

What a day we have had! Its gone from bad to worse. I am infuriated. This has

no right or excuse. The government has taken over our well without any warning

or compensation. We just heard news that from this day forward we will have to

pay 450 dollars in order to have our water supply. This has happened to the

whole of Bolivia. What are we citizens have done is formed protests and I have

named myself leader of the protests in Cochabamba.

Today was our first protest already. At the start, things were going fine, but then

the police started to get violent, which resulted in some fatalities and in really

bad injuries to others. I am injured myself. Lets sin the what tomorrow brings

Day 3:

The situation still hasnt changed. In fact each second that passes means danger

is greater. My film producers do not agree with me being in the protest, so

theyve offered me an extra 10,000 dollars if I stay out of trouble until we have

finished the film; that money could change our lives but on the other hand this is

the place where I have been brought up and these are my people this will be a

hard choice.

Alex Rodriguez


9/14

12

March 16th 2000 Today was a hard day. We finished filming one scene of the film and my

daughter did too.

She did a good job, I'm very happy that I have a daughter so gifted, I'm

very proud of her!

She watched her scene in the film today at a screening with the director,

Sebastian.

I'm glad they chose me and my daughter for the film. We're very happy and

hopefully be paid by tomorrow.

March 18th 2000

I'm not happy today, I'm very angry!

The Spanish film crew thinks that me, indigene person, are stupid. That

really upsets me because only that I'm an indigene, they treat me with no

respect, I just find that rude.


10/14

12

I overheard the director talking on his phone saying that we are dumb fools

to accept that low salary.

He's rude and I translated what he had said in English into Spanish to show

I could understand him. I'm very angry, but hopefully tomorrow will be

better.

March 21st 2000

Long day today. The director told the women with babies that they had to

pretend to drown them.

They did not want to because they couldn't bear the idea. I told the film

crew and they told me that there were dummies they could use for those

scenes.

All the women left with disappointment and the film crew got angry

especially the producer. These people only care about the film, it's only a

film!

How can they care more about a film than real, living people?? It's just

unbelievable.

Lydia Herrera


11/14

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30th October;

Sebastian is wasting our precious time! He wants to go through every single

indigenous person and allow them each an audition for his film. Bah! Could he

not just choose random people!? It's not as if they're important! I'm getting tiredof his games.

13th November;

Haha! We pay them two american dollars a day and they think they are kings!

They just can not seem to see how we are using them. Shows just how stupid

they are - haha! We're going to get away with it!

29th November;

Sebastian is clearly losing it. The women don't want to "drown" their children for

the making of the film. I mean, it's not even really drowning them! We're going

to swap their children with dummies! Those stubborn women are going to ruin

everything I have created to do this film!

Sebastian is trying his best to put the women at ease, although it is obviously not

working. The babies are starting to cry. I think I better step in and help him out,

although it is vaguely amusing seeing him in dispair.

Alexandra Pinilla Taylor

18/7/2000We arrived in Bolivia ten days ago. I am so excited about directing my first film!

It's great that the actors are working for so little, but i was concerned about their

health and safety. Early on, we had some men lift up the cross for the first scene,

which was extremely dangerous. They could have been killed or crushed if the

cross had fallen down. But on the bright side, we saved thousands andthousands of dollars not hiring a crane to do the same job.


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The only thing that worries me is our main actor, Daniel. He might be a great

actor but he could be trouble. Well, it's no big deal but Costa is worried.

20/7/2000

It's great! We have filmed the first few scenes. Everyone is working very hard. I

am quite proud of how everything is being dealt with.

I love being here, there is so much nature, a big change from the big city. There

is a particular smell of leaves and wood, it's so fresh. Also you can hear the river

flowing non-stop, it can get slightly annoying but you get used to it.

I do miss the city and all the little details, like the traffic, the big buildings... But, I

am so happy and excited about the film!

The poverty here is incredible, people are desperate, which is why they are

working so cheaply. If only the Spanish actors would work cheaper, then we

would be filming there.

28/7/2000I've been so busy the last week but i can't help being a bit scared. The local

people are protesting in huge numbers about the price of the water. But we are

quite safe. Not for long though, things are predicted to get quite violent. Just my

luck that Daniel was the one who organised all this...

He isn't injured yet, but I hope that he stays out of all that. I need him for my

film. After the film he can do whatever he wants. I will not let this ruin my film, it

means the world to me!

It was just like Costa suspected , he IS trouble. But nothing will stop me from

finishing my film, I won't let it. The film is everything to me. Why doesn't

everyone seem to understand me?

Eliana Lale Khan

September 21st 2000


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We arrived in Cochabamba today. I don't like this village at all. The people are

nice enough, but the village is sad, even the buildings seem sad; They creak and

seem to lean to the sides, as if they're waiting to fall down. I said this to Costa,

who laughed and said

"It doesn't matter. So long as it happens after we leave, even the hills can

crumble! Costa is a heartless man.

The auditions took place today. Nearly the entire village turned up early this

morning. From what I hear, they're desperate to get jobs, because of some

Government scheme or something. But whatever.

Anyway, the auditions. Costa started randomly picking people from the queue,

but then some guy started complaining because Costa wasn't being fair. The

little man was trying to pick a fight with Costa, asking if he acted as he did

because they were or because they were indigenous people.

In the end, I managed to convince Costa to audition everyone. I felt bad for

them. Rice for dinner. It was nice... I hope we can start filming soon.

September 23rd 2000

We started filming today! I'm so excited... It's going great!

Now we have all the extras (about sixty or so, from the two-hundred who turned

up). Amongst those sixty, was that little guy, Daniel who complained in the

queue. We gave him the part of the lead role of Hatue. What a quirky little man!

We need to start preparing the sets for the rest of the scenes. I need to remind

the crew.

September 24th 2000

Yes! Thing are going on fine with the film. The crew has finished building the sets

for scenes two and three, and the villagers, they are such hard workers! (And

good actors, Daniel and his daughter are brilliant. Both of them.) I don't know

why, maybe it's just for the money.

About the thing with the Government; Some men from the water company

turned up at the village. They put a padlock on the well. Apparently the village


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women got really mad. I have a feeling things are going to get worse before they

get better... But I truly hope not.

Ins Pineda

caroline la lluvia

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