Araya

Jose Ignacio Cabrujas Director: Margot Benacerraf

Overview

Shown at Cannes in 1959, the year after Venezuela's last dictator Marcos Perez-Jimenez was overthrown, the documentary inadvertently highlights the kind of exploitation of the poor that can lead to rebellion. While the dictator escaped to Miami with $13 million, salt workers were piling up mounds of salt on the flat sands, making barely enough money to keep them in arepas and black beans. Between the hot, tropical climate and the sores on their feet, the job these workers do every day is excruciating. Yet the lives of the fishermen and salt workers in this documentary are shown in the context of planned, upscale development, something of a disservice to the larger picture.

Product Details

Release Date:	05/17/2011
UPC:	0784148011448
Original Release:	1958
Source:	Milestone Video
Presentation:	[B&W, Wide Screen]
Sound:	[Dolby Digital Mono]
Language:	English
Time:	1:22:00
Sales rank:	8,285

Special Features

Reveron, a 1953 film by Margot Benacerraf; Two audio commentaries: interviews with Margot Benacerraf on Araya and Reveron; The Film of Her Life: Araya documentary by Antoine Mora 2007 ; Two tv interviews with Margot Benacerraf ; Araya American trailer

Cast & Crew

Performance Credits

Jose Ignacio Cabrujas

Narrator

Technical Credits

Margot Benacerraf

Pierre Seghers

Margot Benacerraf	Director,Screenwriter
Pierre Seghers	Screenwriter

Editorial Reviews

Neglected for half a century until this 50th-anniversary version was released in theaters in 2009, Araya, which shared the Cannes International Critics Prize in 1959 with Alain Renais's Hiroshima, Mon Amour but was never in wide release, is now available for the first time on DVD. Venezuelan filmmaker Benacerraf, considered a giant of Latin American cinema, sees her film not as documentary or fiction but rather as a "tone poem" that marries stark visuals, music, and narrative to evoke a time and culture that has been lost forever. Araya is a barren and harsh peninsula that juts into the Caribbean off northern Venezuela. Its main feature is a huge salt marsh, which has produced that precious commodity for more than 450 years. The film encompasses 24 hours in the lives of three families who follow routines established by their ancestors centuries ago: the Pereda and Salaz families are salineros, or salt workers, while the Ortiz family fish to provide both sustenance and income. The stunning photography and sensitive storytelling draw one into the realities and beauty of their lives, just as industrialization slowly but inevitably starts to destroy their unique culture. Along with restored footage, the DVD has a revived Spanish-language soundtrack with new English subtitles as well as a French-language soundtrack. Bonus features include Benacerraf's first film, Reveron (1953), and the documentary The Film of Her Life: Araya, plus loads more. Of particular interest to this reviewer are the updates on Araya today. This film is essential for serious cinema collections and highly recommended for general film lovers, too. [See Video NewsBriefs, LJ 5/15/11, p. 56.—Ed.]—Tom Budlong, Atlanta

Library Journal