The movie, También la lluvia (Even the Rain), directed by Icíar Bollaín reveals an important aspect of a contemporary environmental issues. Water is life. People cannot live without water. On the surface, the cause of the “water wars” is lack of water in Bolivia in 2000. However, if we investigate the cause of these “water wars,” we will understand the causes of these wars. Human beings are the cause of “water wars” in Bolivia in 2000 because we love money and power.
People can live without a house. People can live without cloth. People can live without family. But people cannot live without water. Water is essential to human existence. If the Bolivia’s leading public water companies take all the water supplies from the Bolivians and force the people to pay more money for their water. In other words, these companies are literally stealing from the Bolivians and force them to buy it. There is one scene in the movie, which is still vivid in my mind. In this scene, the Bolivian polices and workers from the leading water companies are knocking down the locks and stealing their citizen’s wells. Many Bolivian women running out of their house to the wells and beg the policemen not to take away their water. Powerlessly fighting against policemen, these women push and jump toward the well. One of the policemen says that they are just doing their job. By the well, the tears of confusion, fear, and anger are in every woman’s eyes. This scene shows that the cause of any kind of environmental issue is mankind. Because of human beings, there are wars. Because of human beings in this world, there is poverty. Because of human beings, slavery exists.
There is another scene in the movie, which relates to power and money. Costa is one of my favorite characters in the movie because he decided to save Belen in the end of the movie. Costa’s character is very different from all the other characters in the movie. He seems to have faith. There is one place in the movie, Costa says, “money always work,” when the hospital doctor question his ability to go through the guards in Bolivia. In addition, Costa and Sebastian used money to bribe the jail chief to get Daniel out of the prison for their film. It seems like money is powerful. It seems like money will give people whatever they want. However, the ending of the story of Costa’s life is not clear. Why does the director leave an unclear ending to the audiences, if money can give people whatever they want? In other words, why can’t Costa buy his way out of the dangerous situation? Money is not all-powerful.
When I pay more attention to the details of the movie, I noticed repetitions. Money shows up repeatedly. Perhaps, the director wants the audiences to put a red flag on money. Why does the director wants to put a red flag on money? Perhaps, money is the source, which controls and motivates every human beings to strive in life. Ironically, people want more money because of pleasure and safety. As a result, money leads to wars and chaos.