Solo un cargador (2004) User Reviews

Boring

[camachoborracho · 3/10 · 30 July 2005]

Yes the story is sad that the transporter's life is essentially empty and meaningless. But you know what? Most people's lives are. Nothing particularly interesting is done with the footage, shots, or voice over speech. It was interesting to see the mountains and villages of Peru and lifestyles of people across the world, but I would watch a PBS documentary for that.

I guess what bothered me was that the narrator says he's not complaining about his lot in life, etc. but then the REST of the film he basically does that and says how boring it all is, the facetiousness of people, etc. The one revelation at the end which I thought was interesting however was that he thought the rich have it easier - I think had the film gone down this perspective of the grass being greener on the other side it would have been so much richer.

Part of the problem is also that I saw this with a bunch of "experimental" films in LA and I kept thinking what is experimental about this? It felt like they stuck this in the wrong slot and it should have been in the documentary night, so the fact the visually and mentally engaging films had preceded it doesn't help it much either.

20 minutes is a long time to hear a guy complain...

3/10

Could not disagree more with the prior comments

[bubakar · 10/10 · 11 October 2005]

Whoever wrote the previous comments clearly doesn't understand cinema, especially the concept of a cinematic tone poem. I saw this at the Indianapolis International Film Festival and I was astonished and moved in a way I never expected. The film is a collection of the stories of many men who move luggage up and down the mountains of South American for "gringo" tourists. The director takes segments from interviews with dozens of the "cargadors" and turns it into a beautiful, meditative voice-over. The imagery is gorgeous and the film exposes the humanity of a group of people far too easily overlooked. This is a rare example of a perfect short film.