With the Weight of Life / Luis Felipe Rojas

In this case, it has to do with one of the gravest problems of humanity. The art of transporting a bit of precious liquid home faces a path just as winding as the search for El Dorado. In a small provincial village like San German, the lack of water and poor diets and access to food is the greatest challenge.

I made this documentary a few years before the local aqueduct was constructed. The old men who fetched the water at that time still do so today.

People are supposed to receive water from the pipes but due to electrical deficiencies, an infinite amount of leakages, and horrible planning among the schedules of those who put the water, it seems like wagons (used to fetch the water) will never stop existing in this region.

Monguito, Rafael, Mauro and other water-carriers assured us at the time that with the new aqueduct it would all be better. Geronimo, the diligent one, confessed to me that even if his profession became extinct, he knew that it would benefit the entire town.

I was really moved by these men who gave up so much time to put up with the state inspectors, functionaries, and police officers who constantly demanded one paper or another from them to make sure that the horses they were riding were theirs, that they were paying the taxes attached to traveling, and other state regulations. Even with that said, they persisted beyond the interests of a few bucks a month.

I filmed this documentary with the same precariousness I filmed previous ones. And now it has been confirmed that the scarcity of water is also mixed with other bureaucratic inefficiencies which we all know are traits of the state functionaries.

Translated by Raul G.

14 July 2011