Serra Pelada

The run-of-the-mill story about the rise and fall into crime gets a refreshing enhancement in Bald Mountain by setting it in the impressive setting of an enormous open-pit gold mine in Brazil called Serra Pelada (the titular Bald Mountain). In this real location, a microcosm of both organised and completely freelance crime developed during the six years that the mine was in operation, starting in 1980, and the depiction of that world is the main attraction of this skilfully made film. The film’s narrative focuses on two friends who start out here among the tens of thousands of ordinary miners swarming like ants in the iconic shots of the open-pit mine, but gradually work their way up, becoming tycoons and then later falling apart under the influence of gold fever. The film properly balances the formulaic story with the presentation of all possible aspects of its setting. The filmmakers succeeded in using a combination of period shots, digital effects and artfully filmed scenes to evoke the atmosphere of a giant human anthill as a place where wealth comes just as quickly as death. (2014.04.04)