[Aztlan] Maya movie

[Diehl, Richard]

Hola Listeros,

 

I want to spread the news about a fantastic old/new film on the modern
highland Maya. Back in 1974, Chilean movie director Rolando Klein made a
film entitled Chac: The Rain God but it was never distributed until
Milestone Films (www.milestonefilms.com <http://www.milestonefilms.com/>
) recently released it. The film deals the attempts of Tzeltal farmers
from Tenejapa, Chiapas to alleviate a drought. Klein shot this visual
masterpiece in Tenejapa using a cast consisting of local Tzeltal
speakers along with two Lacondones and a Yucatec speaker from Tulum, all
ordinary local people, not actors. The plot is woven around the Popol
Vuh and the role shamans and diviners play (or played 35 years ago) in
Tzeltal life. Dialogue is all in Tzeltal with a little Lacandon and
Yucatec, accompanied by English subtitles. I personally suggest that
anyone watching it do what we did; first watch the film and only later
watch the film with a running commentary by the Director. We found it on
Netflix. This is an absolute must-see for anyone interested in the Maya.
If you watch it and do not enjoy it, I will buy you a beer the next time
we encounter each other.

 

Dick Diehl