En lo Escondido

Nicolás Rincón Gille
2007. Belgium, Colombia. vo Spanish. s English. 78’

When night falls, the Colombian countryside undergoes a transformation. Danger lurks in the dark. Carmen, a peasant woman in her fifties, knows it well. This film finds the right distance to absorb her tale of a tormented life, while drawing the audience into the harsh world of the Colombian peasant through one of its most fascinating aspects: the oral tradition.

When night falls, the Colombian countryside undergoes a transformation. Danger lurks in the dark. Carmen, a peasant woman in her fifties, knows it well: as a child, she was approached by a witch who promised her great powers if she agreed to copulate with the devil. Carmen refused and ever since, she has lived under a curse: from a violent husband to painful childbirths, from pillage by the paramilitaries to ruin and death threats. With skilful image composition and vision, Nicolás Rincón Gille films a woman who is both amusing and tragic, who speaks of magic, violence, birth and death. He finds the right distance to absorb her tale of a tormented life, while drawing the audience into the harsh world of the Colombian peasant through one of its most fascinating aspects: the oral tradition.